oia 


A 


GAN-EDEN: 


OB, 


PICTURES   OF   CUBA. 


"  The  place  was  called  Gan-Eden,  the  Garden  of  Delight ;  and  it  be- 
longed to  the  Caliph  Haroun-Al-Raschid,  who,  when  his  heart  was  con- 
tracted, used  to  come  to  that  garden  and  sit  there ;  so  his  heart  became 
dilated,  and  his  anxiety  ceased."  —  Koureddin  and  the  Fair  Persian. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND  COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO: 

JEWETT,  PROCTOE  AND  WORTHINGTON. 

NEW   TOBK  :    SHELDON,   LAMPORT   AND    BLAKBMAN. 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1851,  by 

JOHN  P.  JETVETT  AND  COMPANY, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDG  B   : 
ALLEN    AND    FARXHAM,    6TEREOTYPEKS    AND    PRISTEM 


TO   MY  FRIEND 

MRS.    F.    W.    S., 


THE    NAME    OF    ONE    WHOSE    MEMORY    IS    LINKED    WITH    THE 
SWEETEST  AND   THE  SADDEST  RECOLLECTIONS 
OF    MY    CUBAN    JOURNEY, 

•    t 
THIS     BOOK     18     DEDICATED. 


- 


PREFACE. 


IN  calling  Cuba  a  "  Garden  of  Delight,"  I 
only  express  the  sum  of  those  bright  memories, 
of  a  genial  nature,  and  of  more  genial  human 
friends,  which  I  brought  away  from  the  tropics. 

The  title  "Pictures  of  Cuba,"  indicates  my 
intention  in  composing  this  volume.  I  have  not 
attempted  to  write  a  history,  or  a  gazetteer  of 
Cuba.  I  have  only  sought  to  reproduce  the 
sights  and  thoughts  which  passed  before  the  eyes, 
and  through  the  mind  of  one  whose  interest  in 
Cuba  is  by  no  means  recent,  and  who  tried  to 
see  and  to  think  for  himself.  Many  mistakes 
of  detail,  I  must  have  made.  I  have  done  my 
best  to  avoid  them,  but  my  chief  wish  has  been, 
to  preserve  the  aroma  of  those  general  impres- 
sions, which  are  the  best  things  that  an  unscien- 


VU1  PREFACE. 

tific  traveller  has  to  offer  to  an  exacting  public. 
The  considerate  reader,  to  whom  I  shall  be  for- 
tunate enough  to  convey  any  distincter  notions 
of  the  sweet,  sad  South,  I  am  sure,  will  pardon 
the  prominence  which  the  plan  of  the  book 
necessarily  gives  to  the  first  personal  pronoun. 

It  is  proper  to  say  here,  that  something  of  the 
substance  of  these  pages  has  already  appeared 
in  the  form  of  letters  addressed  to  the  National 
Era,  and  that  Chapter  XIV.  has  been  altered  and 
condensed  from  an  article  published  in  the  North 
American  Review,  for  January,  1849. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.     .        .       ......  1 

H  .......        •  15 

"HI  .........  23 

"IV  ........  34 

V  .........  45 

"VI.         .                .....  58 

"      VII  .........  73 


"IX  .........  100 

"          X  ........  124 

"XI  .........  139 

"      XII  ........  153 

"  xni  .........  i8i 

"     XIV  .....  -      .         .         .  202 

"      XV.  .  225 


GAN-EDEN: 

OR, 

PICTURES    OF   CUBA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

"New-bora  delights." 

KEATS. 

jft 

THERE  are  names  which  affect  us  like  a 
delicious  poem  or  a  glowing  picture.  When 
young  Hassan  heard  his  father  talking  with 
the  merchants  from  Cairo  about  Egypt  and 
her  Nile,  his  heart  dilated  with  pleasurable 
pain,  and  he  found  no  rest  till  he  sallied 
forth  from  the  western  gate  of  Mosul  across 
the  Syrian  sands.  Only  with  reading  over 
the  names  on  a  map  of  Italy  or  of  England, 
we  can  warm  a  winter's  hour,  and  cover 
the  barest  walls  with  such  landscapes  as 
never  Claude  or  Constable,  Tintoret  or 
Turner  put  upon  the  canvas.  The  name 
of  Cuba  leaves  a  ring  of  doubloons  on  the 
ear,  a  flavor  of  guava  on  the  lips. 

Cuba  has  no  history.  One  sublime  figure 
alone  does  that  magic  word  summon  up 
1 


2  GAN-EDEN. 

before  us,  a  figure  how  sublime !  a  shape  of 
rewarded  greatness,  —  of  triumphant  pa- 
tience,—  a  grand  heroic  figure,  motionless 
upon  the  rude  prow  of  a  low  caravel,  with 
sad  eyes  brightening  in  an  awful  joy,as  that 
new  world,  borne  about  so  long  within  his 
throbbing  brain,  slowly  rises,  a  visible 
reality,  from  the  bosom  of  the  calm  blue 
sea! 

Before  Columbus  all  human  history  in 
Cuba,  is  a  blank,  after  him  it  is  all  blood 
and  business.  Yet  is  that  fair  island  a  land 
of  sirens  to  those  who  know  it  not ;  to  those 
who  have  wandered  there,  a  land  of  the 
lotus.  I  have  heard  young  men  talk  re- 
gretfully of  the  Havana  while  lounging 
along  the  brilliant  Boulevards  of  Paris,  and 
a  venerable  merchant,  as  chary  of  his 
emotions  as  of  his  indorsements,  once  said 
to  me,  with  a  light  of  youth  in  his  old  gray 
eyes,  that  his  arrival  in  Cuba  gave  him  the 
most  vivid  idea  he  ever  had  of  the  passage 
from  this  world  to  the  next.  What  won- 
der that  this  should  be  so  ?  The  Northern 
Anglo-American  sails  from  his  "stern  and 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  3 

rock  bound  coast,"  racked  in  body  upon  the 
swiftly  revolving  wheels  of  a  climatic  tor- 
ture, the  pains  of  which  are  the  more  in- 
tense, that  he  cannot  anticipate  where  or 
when  they  will  recur,  —  racked  in  spirit  by 
the  vexatious  excitements  of  the  most  dis- 
tracting and  unjoyous  life  men  have  ever 
led.  He  finds  in  tropical  Spanish  America 
a  Kingdom  of  Cockaigne 


- "  a  place 


Blest  by  Heaven's  especial  grace, 

A  pleasant  shore, 

Where  a  sweet  clime  is  breathed  from  a  land 
Of  fragrance,  quietness,  and  trees  and  flowers, 
Pull  of  calm  joy  it  is,  as  we  of  grief, 
Too  full  of  joy  and  soft  delicious  warmth.'' 

Within  three  days'  sail  of  our  southern 
ports,  lie  scenes  than  which  India  itself 
offers  nothing  more  thoroughly  strange  to 
our  eyes.  The  world  of  nature  is  strange. 
The  eye  seeks  in  vain  the  many-branching 
small-leaved  forests  of  the  Continent.  They 
are  replaced  by  taller,  more  leafy,  more 
graceful  tribes  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, — 
the  grains  and  the  grasses  of  our  cornfields 
and  our  ponds,  shooting  up,  mighty  arbo- 


4  GAN-EDEN. 

rescent  giants  overhead.  The  rich  and 
dainty  flowers,  whose  acquaintance  we 
made  as  the  delicately  nurtured  belles  of 
the  aristocratic  New  England  hothouse, 
flaunt  upon  us,  rude  and  healthy  hoydens, 
from  every  hedge  and  roadside.  New 
lights  are  in  the  firmament,  strange  con- 
stellations shining  with  a  planetary  splen- 
dor in  these  new, more  magnificent  heavens. 
There,  most  beautiful  of  all  the  signs  God 
hath  set  in  the  skies,  flames  the  Southern 
Cross,  the  Christian  constellation,  the  sym- 
bol of  the  new  hopes  and  the  new  life  re- 
vealed to  Christendom  in  that  later  age 
when  first  it  greeted  European  eyes. 
Strangely,  among  the  new  tenants  of  the 
upper  .world,  shows  the  familiar  brightness 
of  Orion  and  of  the  Pleiades,  and  the  great 
Northern  Bear  seems  a  wanderer  like  our- 
selves, gazing  on  the  splendid  southern  stars 
as  the  rude  Gothic  heroes  and  fierce  Vik- 
inger  gazed  of  old  upon  the  gorgeous 
pageantries  of  Rome  and  of  Byzantium. 
The  very  crescent  moon  has  changed,  the 
huntress  Diana  has  bartered  her  bow  for  a 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  5 

golden  boat,  in  which  she  floats  Cleopatra- 
like,  and  careless  of  the  chase,  through  the 
.luxurious  purple  skies.  Not  less  strange  in 
appearance  than  the  moon,  are  the  waters 
which  she  sways.  The  ocean  rolls  around 
the  volcanic  and  coralline  rocks,  a  tide  more 
"deeply  darkly  beautifully  blue"  than  is 
ever  seen  upon  our  northern  coasts,  more 
blue  even  than  the  glorious  blue  waters  of 
the  Mediterranean.  These  waters  which 
are  very  deep  close  in  shore,  for  the  shores 
of  northern  Cuba  are  generally  steep  and 
sudden,  are  transparent  and  pellucid  as  the 
crystal  of  Lake  George,  and  leaning  over 
the  bows  of  the  ship  you  may  see  far  down 
below  you  a  whole  submarine  landscape  of 
queer  and  enormous  plants,  populous  with 
all  manner  of  lazy  conservatives,  —  huge 
turtles  not  less  grave  and  aldermanic  in 
appearance  than  their  transatlantic  human 
foes,  —  star-fishes  content  throughout  their 
lives  to  be  the  admiration  of  their  own 
Little  Pedlingtons ;  lazzaroni  conchs  to 
whom  Heaven  has  granted  what  alone  the 
lazzarone  of  Naples  considers  wanting  to  his 
1* 


6  GAN-EDEN? 

bliss,  "  that  food  should  have  legs  and  crawl 
to  him ; "  for  lying  on  his  back,  the  happy 
conch,  with  feelers  indolently  stretched 
along  the  tide,  takes  toll  of  all  slight  living 
things  that  pass  that  way.  How  cool  and 
inviting  seem  to  the  sun-burned,  soul-weary 
voyager  those  silent  watery  realms,  unvex- 
ed  by  merman  or  by  mermaid,  K  a  dream 
of  idleness  in  groves  Elysian ! " 

Not  alone  are  the  eyes  refreshed  with 
new  sights  on  land  and  sea ;  the  air  is  full 
of  winged  jewels,  the  groves  and  canefields 
glancing  by  day  with  the  prismatic  colors 
of  thousands  of  coleoptera,  and  brilliant 
broad-winged  butterflies,  and  glittering  by 
night  with  the  electrical  splendors  of  the 
famous  cucullos,  those  torch-bearing  aerial 
watchmen,  those  living  emeralds,  whose 
effulgence  no  gem  of  the  mineral  world 
can  rival.  Nay,  the  very  air  itself  is  a 
novelty  to  northern  lungs  in  which  the 
senses  take  not  less  delight  than  in  aught 
of  sight  or  sound  that  rejoices  them. 
Breathing,  which  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
inconvenience  of  life  in  our  intemperate 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  7 

zone,  becomes  its  chief  and  cheapest  luxury 
in  Cuba.  One  finds  it  more  easy  to  surren- 
der his  barbarian  faith  in  the  forms  of  mat- 
ter, and  accepts  more  submissively  the  gos- 
pel of  gas,  when  he  finds  how  effectively 
and  sweetly  the  mere  atmosphere  of  the 
tropics  can  attune  the  dissonant  chords  of 
his  substantial  mortal  body.  Those  bland 
airs  steal  over  the  system,  curdled  by  our 
uneasy  atmosphere,  with  a  soothing  influ- 
ence such  as  the  companionship  of  the 
serene  and  the  noble  exerts  upon  hearts 
snatched  from  the  society  of  the  vexatious, 
the  passionate,  and  the  querulous.  It  is  so 
strange  and  so  pleasant  to  trust  in  the  skies 
as  one  trusts  in  one's  friends !  Our  north- 
ern Aurora  is  a  mere  Armida,  —  nay,  she 
is  a  very  Jael,  and  when,  lulled  by  her 
seducing  smiles,  we  lay  our  trusting  heads 
upon  her  lap,  she  rewards  our  confidence 
with  a  nail  smartly  driven  through  the 
temples !  The  Cuban  morning,  faithful  as 
Fiordelisa,  crowns  us 

"  Con  gioia  e  con  diletto 
Senza  aver  tema  o  di  guerra  sospetto." 


8  GAN-EDEN. 

Here  it  is  almost  as  unsafe  to  count  upon 
a  pleasant  to-morrow  in  the  country  as  to 
speculate  upon  the  chances  of  a  Cape  Horn 
voyage,  or  a  presidential  nomination.  In 
Cuba,  a  man  may  arrange  periodical  pic- 
nics for  his  grandchildren  yet  unborn.  Of 
course  in  such  a  land  nobody  talks  of  the 
weather,  excepting  raw  foreigners,  and 
the  comparative  dulness  of  large  social 
gatherings  in  Havana  may  perhaps  be 
due  in  part  to  the  impossibility  of  intro- 
ducing this  agreeable  and  fruitful  topic,  to 
which  we  owe  so  much  of  the  easy  and 
brilliant  conversation  that  abounds  in  our 
own  saloons. 

If  God's  world  in  Cuba,  the  world  of 
nature,  as  Columbus  and  Ojeda  found  it 
there  three  centuries  ago,  is  thus  strange  to 
the  children  of  the  temperate  zones,  man's 
world,  the  world  of  arts  and  manners,  as 
the  successors  of  Columbus  and  Ojeda  have 
reared  it,  is  not  less  striking  and  strange. 
'The  northern  voyagef,  as  his  steamer  glides 
into  the  huge  tub-shaped  harbor  of  Havana, 
gazes  with  astonishment  on  a  scene  which 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  9 

revives  his  visions  or  his  memories  of  the 
far  Levant.  Our  Anglo-Saxondom  has  so 
appropriated  to  itself  the  American  name  ; 
the  "young  giant  of  the  West,"  so  yearns  to 
crown  his  head  with  the  Arctic  Circle  and 
to  bathe  his  feet  in  the  southern  sea,  that 
most  of  us  think  little  of  those  bygone 
days,  when  the  Indies  were  but  the  pantry 
and  the  strong-box  of  the  Catholic  kings, 
when  the  Caribbean  was  a  Spanish  lake, 
when  the  man  who  sailed  from  London  a 
trader  was  hung  in  Panama  a  pirate,  and 
the  old  Gothic  monarchy  talked  as  confi- 
dently of  its  manifest  rights  as  does  young 
America  now  of  its  manifest  destiny.  So 
it  seems  to  us,  that  to  have  reached  this 
stately  panorama  of  Havana,  we  must  have 
traversed  many  miles  of  longitude  instead 
of  a  few  degrees  of  latitude.  On  the  left 
hand  rise  fortifications  massive  as  those  of 
Malta  or  Gibraltar,  wrought  into  the  dark 
grey  rocks  of  the  Morro,  sweeping  along 
the  many-hued  hill-sides  of  the  Cabanas, 
glittering  throughout  their  lengthening 
lines  with  the  white  uniforms  and  shin- 


10  GAN-EDEN. 

ing  bayonets  of  the  sentinels  who  guard 
the  proud  flag  of  Spain,  that  gorgeous 
banner  of  blood  and  of  gold,  which  sym- 
bolizes so  well  the  career  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  pedlar  knights,  or  knightly  ped- 
lars, who  conquered  the  Indies  for  Castile 
and  Leon. 

On  the  right,  stretch  irregular  masses 
of  parti-colored  buildings,  blue,  pink,  white, 
green,  yellow,  overtopped  at  intervals  by 
some  massive  church  tower  or  graceful 
tufted  palm-tree.  Queer-looking  boats, 
emancipated  gondolas,  shameless  sisters  of 
the  veiled  Venetian  nuns,  and  brilliant  as 
butterflies,  dart  in  and  out  along  the 
crowded  quays.  Half-naked  negroes  are 
riding  fractious  horses  into  the  sluggish 
water,  and  a  confused  incessant  buzz,  like 
that  which  rises  from  vociferous  Naples  to 
the  ear  of  the  lonely  traveller  dreaming 
among  the  orange  groves  of  lofty  San 
Elmo,  comes  faintly  from  the  shore.  You 
land,  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  city, 
and  still  the  wonder  grows.  You  call  a 
coach,  and  find  only  an  odd  looking  gig 


PICTURES    OP    CUBA.  11 

with  shafts  sixteen  feet  long,  and  wheels 
six  yards  in  circumference,  driven  by  a 
negro  postilion,  three  parts  jack-boots  and 
one  part  silver-laced  jacket.  Into  this 
singular  vehicle  you  fling  yourself,  and  find 
that  to  the  gig  of  your  dear  native  land, 
this  tropical  gig  is  as  the  pine-apple  is  to 
the  pearmain,  so  luxurious,  so  cradling, 
to  provocative  of  bland  indifference  to  all 
worldly  cares !  You  reach  your  inn,  and 
find  it  in  appearance  a  Moorish  palace,  — 
in  general  discomfort  a  German  boarding- 
house,  in  expense  a  Bond  street  hotel. 
You  find  that  you  are  to  live  on  two  meals 
a  day;  a  breakfast  that  begins  with  eggs 
and  rice,  is  sustained  by  fried  pork  and 
Catalan  wine,  and  ends  with  coffee  and 
cigars ;  a  dinner,  every  dish  of  which  is  a 
voyage  of  discovery.  -  You  are  to  sleep  on 
what  most  resembles  a  square  drum-head 
of  Jullien  dimensions,  without  mattress  or 
coverlets,  in  a  room  with  a  red-tiled  floor, 
and  with  windows  in  wrhich  the  utter  want 
of  glass  is  compensated  for  by  the  presence 
of  innumerable  iron  bars.  Boots  is  a  na- 


12  GAN-EDEN. 

live  African,  an  ex-cannibal  for  aught  you 
know,  wonderfully  tattooed,  and  the  laun- 
dress an  athletic  young  negress  who 
smokes  authentic  long  nines. 

You  walk  out  through  streets  narrow  as 
those  of  Pompeii,  past  shops  open  to  the 
ground  like  those  of  Naples,  and  shaded 
with  heavy  awnings  that  often  sweep 
across  the  street.  Every  thing  is  patent 
to  your  gaze  and  nobody  seems  to  be  aware 
of  the  fact.  Only  now  and  then  you  pass 
some  vast  pile  of  yellow  stone,  stately  as 
the  palaces  of  Genoa,  and  catch  through 
the  great  archway  a  glimpse  of  court-yards, 
fountain-cooled  and  palm-shaded,  that  sug- 
gest dreams  of  Eastern  seclusion  and  invisi- 
ble beauty.  You  dream  on  this  fine  dream, 
for  in  all  your  walk  you  meet  no  female 
form  save  of  the  Pariah  class,  unless,  per- 
chance, you  stumble  on  some  fair  for- 
eigner, at  sight  of  whose  bonnet  the  incu- 
rious native  deigns  to  look  up  from  his 
business  in  doors,  or  his  lounge  in  the 
shade,  with  a  sudden  stare  and  a  half-pity- 
ing smile,  which  prqyoke  you  to  wonder 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  13 

that  you  had  ever  ceased  to  feel  how  fear- 
ful a  thing  the  bonnet  of  civilization  is. 
Water  carriers,  balancing  their  jars,  mules 
half  hidden  from  the  eye  by  fresh  bundles 
of  green  fodder,  borne  on  either  side,  large 
cream-colored  oxen,  superb  as  the  mild- 
eyed  monsters  of  Lombardy,  pulling  pri- 
meval carts  by  means  of  yokes  fastened  in 
front  of  the  horns,  crowd  up  the  narrow 
streets.  And  through  them  all  the  fre- 
quent calesero,  swinging  in  his  heavy  sad- 
dle, steers  the  clumsy  length  of  his  qidtrin 
with  careless  certain  skill. 

The  signs  of  the  shops  startle  you,  for 
if  you  are  to  take  them  au  pied  de  la  lettre, 
all  the  retail  business  of  Havana  is  in  the 
hands  of  saints,  goddesses,  and  heroes,  of 
birds,  beasts,  and  beauties.  St.  Dominic 
deals  in  healing  drugs,  St.  Anthony  boldly 
handles  laces,  muslins,  and  ribbons,  Diana 
dispenses  sweets  to  all  the  dandies  of  the 
town,  the  Empress  Eugenia  meekly  mea- 
sures tapes,  and  the  blessed  Sun  himself 
has  really  "proved  a  micher,"  and  cheats 
in  cosmetics.  The  greater  merchants,  like 
2 


14 


GAN-EDEN. 


the  burghers  of  the  middle  ages,  often 
occupy  with  their  families  the  elegant 
upper  floors  of  the  building  which  in  its 
first  stories  serves  them  for  a  warehouse. 

Not  less  mediaeval  is  the  confusion  of 
quarters.  Next  door  to  the  begrimed 
hovel  of  a  dealer  in  coal,  rises  the  palatial 
home  of  the  opulent  marquis ;  St.  Giles  and 
St.  James  elbow  each  other. 

Have  we  not  passed  the  pillars  of  Her- 
cules, and  shall  we  not  "look  the  blue 
straits  over,"  for  the  heights  of  Morocco  ? 


CHAPTER   II. 

"  In  the  afternoon  they  came  nnto  a  land 
Wherein  it  seemed  always  afternoon." 

TENNYSON. 

WHAT  shocks  may  not  our  personal  iden- 
tity survive  ?  A  month  ago  I  sate,  a  listless 
convalescent,  gowned  and  slippered,  beside 
a  roaring  coal  fire,  feebly  dreaming  of  Cuba 
and  the  Azores,  of  Madeira  and  of  Georgia. 
Then,  the  cautious  journey  from  the  phials 
and  pill-boxes  of  the  sick  room  to  the  busts 
and  the  books  of  the  genial  library,  was 
an  affair  of  doubts,  and  hopes,  and  fears. 
Then,  to  watch  the  panting  pedestrians  in 
the  street  as  they  toiled  through  the  drift- 
ing snow,  and  to  follow  the  tintinnabular 
sleigh  horse  with  the  ear  long  after  he  had 
vanished  from  the  eye  in  the  eddying 
snow-mists,  was  to  see  the  world  and  to 
share  in  its  concerns.  A  fortnight  later  I 
lay  sickening  and  shivering  in  the  narrow 


16  GAN-EDEN. 

berth  of  an  unquiet  steamer,  tossed  to  and 
fro  by  the  riotous  waves  about  Cape  Hat- 
teras.  And  now  I  sit  at  mine  ease,  in  the 
gigantic  frescoed  saloon  of  an  old  Spanish 
house,  in  a  cool  undress,  oblivious  of  physic 
and  of  pain,  lapped  in  a  sweet  frenzy  of 
fragrance  and  of  sunlight,  eating,  drinking, 
breathing  the  very  life  of  summer!  —  We 
left  Charleston  on  a  bleak  wintry  morning, 
and  for  two  days  I  lay  in  my  berth  just 
over  the  boiler,  and  just  under  the  heels 
of  sixteen  horses,  en  route  for  Havana,  eat- 
ing oranges  and  wishing  myself  in  New 
England.  On  the  third  day,  the  heat  from 
below,  and  the  noise  from  above,  fairly 
drove  me  on  deck.  The  weather  had  al- 
ready become  demi-tropical,  and  a  warm 
shimmer  over  the  sea  wooed  us  seduc- 
ingly  onwards.  When  I  awoke  under  the 
rich  golden  light  that  streamed  through  the 
cabin  window  on  the  fourth  morning,  we 
were  just  backing  up  to  the  pier  at  Key 
West. 

This   purgatory   of  underwriters  was   a 
charming   surprise   to   me.     A  low   sanrly 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  17 

shore,  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of 
aloes  and  feathery  palmettoes,  and  dot- 
ted all  along  with  shining  wrhite  cottages, 
among  which  towered  a  cage-like  light- 
house ;  rows  of  pelicans,  dipping  into  the 
surf  after  fishes ;  half  a  dozen  vessels  moor- 
ed along-side  a  long  wooden  pier,  and  as 
many  more  lying  motionless  further  out  on 
the  glassy  green  water;  such  was  Key 
West  on  that  fine  sunny  morning.  New 
life  began  to  kindle  in  my  veins.  Delight- 
fully the  day  wore  on.  Flying-fishes  dart- 
ed here  and  there  above  the  surface  of  the 
still  and  glittering  sea.  Sometimes  the 
white  sails  of  a  wrecking  schooner,  flap- 
ping in  the  calm ;  sometimes  the  bare  spars 
of  a  stranded  ship ;  sometimes  the .  slender 
network  of  an  iron  light-house,  drew  the 
attention  of  the  little  knots  of  passengers 
from  the  general  consultation  of  watches 
and  the  study  of  maps.  We  were  seven 
hours  behind  time,  and  great  was  our  fear 
lest  we  should  not  pass  the  Morro  Castle 
before  sundown.  Since  the  times  of  Lopez, 
the  government  of  the  Island  have  enforc- 
2* 


18  GAN-EDEN. 

ed  the  order  which  forbids  ships  entering 
the  harbor  after  the  evening  gun  is  fired, 
and  it  was  not  pleasant  to  anticipate  a 
night  on  the  rolling  billows  that  ceaselessly 
surge  outside  the  narrow  gateway  of  the 
port. 

About  noon  the  breeze  sprang  up,  the 
good  ship  spread  her  wings,  and  with  the 
double  help  of  Daedalus  and  Watt  we  hur- 
ried onwards.  Islet  after  islet  appeared 
and  vanished  like  shadows  on  the  far  hori- 
zon, low  isles 

"  remote,  that  ride 
On  the  ocean's  bosom  unespied." 

At  four  o'clock  there  was  a  rush  to  the 
upper  deck,  and  lo!  bold  and  brown 
against  the  silver-blue  cloud-bank  before  us, 
rose  the  irregular  outline  of  Cuba.  The 
hue  of  the  waves  brightened  as  we  went 
onward,  till  we  sailed  through  such  glowing 
deeps  of  blue  as  beat  about  the  cliffs  of 
Capri. 

Plainer  and  plainer  grew  the  brown  hill- 
sides, the  glancing  Italian  villas,  the  lofty 
palm-trees,  —  plainer  and  plainer  the  dark 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  19 

gray  rocks  and  white  tower  of  the  Morro 
Castle,  the  terraced  roofs  and  glittering 
houses  of  the  city.  Not  a  sail  was  in  sight. 
It  seemed  as  if  we,  fortunate  discoverers, 
now  saw  before  us  that  populous  Cathay 
for  which  Columbus  longed.  Soon  a  lateen- 
sail  swooped  out  on  the  sea  from  behind 
the  threatening  rocks,  and  the  massive 
masonry  of  the  fortifications  became  dis- 
tinguishable. The  lateen-sail  drooped  be- 
side our  still  advancing  ship,  a  pilot  came 
on  board,  and  while  the  sun  was  still  kind- 
ling the  cloud-bank  on  our  right,  and  flash- 
ing yellow  light  over  all  the  gay  and  gor- 
geous scene,  we  shot  through  the  narrow  en- 
trance of  the  port,  and  the  whole  panorama 
of  the  vast  landlocked  bay,  with  its  ships 
and  its  shores,  suddenly  swept  into  view. 
Not  more  strange,  not  more  rich,  not  more 
beautiful  is  the  bay  of  Naples  or  the  road- 
stead of  Genoa ! 

An  endless  line  of  masts  from  which 
floated  a  profusion  of  gay  flags.  Negroes 
in  bright  jackets  and  briefest  trowsers 
thronging  the  quays  of  yellowish  stone,  or 


20  GAN-EDEN. 

darting  over  the  water  in  boats,  the  lateen- 
sails  and  painted  hulls  of  which,  now  bright 
scarlet,  now  blue,  now  striped  in  green  and 
white,  give  infinite  and  picturesque  variety 
to  the  scene.  Great  square  stone  ware- 
houses fronted  with  low  colonnades;  elegant 
dwellings  in  the  Italian  style,  stuccoed  and 
painted,  and  continually  relieved  by  bright 
green  jalousies  and  plumes  of  graceful  foli- 
age ;  the  renowned  volantes,  brilliant  with 
silver,  rolling  in  and  rolling  out  of  enor- 
mous gateways.  Ever  and  anon  from  be- 
hind the  fanciful  lines  of  the  diversified 
houses,  rises  the  sombre  gray  tower  of  a 
Romanesque  church,  or  the  high-peaked 
roof  of  a  huge  convent. 

The  entrance  to  the  harbor  was  hidden 
by  the  battlemented  heights  behind  us,  and 
what  with  solid  forts,  squaring  the  hill-tops 
here  and  there,  and  white  hamlets,  and  red 
hamlets,  and  hamlets  of  every  hue,  and 
rich  green  tufts  of  tropical  trees  chequering 
the  brown  slopes,  the  whole  circle  of  the 
harbor  was  as  brightly  beautiful  as  need 
be.  Half  a  dozen  Spanish  men  of  war  lay 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  21 

here  and  there  about  the  bay;  a  French 
steam-frigate  off  the  Alameda  de  Paula, 
and  hard  by  ourselves  a  magnificent  Eng- 
lish seventy-four  displayed  the  white  ensign 
of  the  West  Indian  Admiral.  We  had 
surely  seen  all  this  before,  when  in  boyish 
days  Tom  Cringle  treated  us  to  the  crimes 
and  candies  of  his  Caribbean  Log!  Funny 
little  canopied  boats  manned  by  clean,  neat 
Spaniards  in  white  jackets,  swarmed  about 
us,  and  eager  negroes  balanced  on  the 
swinging  bows  of  fragile  barquichuelas, 
waved  golden  bunches  of  the  pendulous 
banana  before  our  wondering  eyes.  The 
escaping  steam  shrieked  with  joy  to  be  re- 
lieved from  duty,  the  hurrying  passengers 
besieged  the  grave  polite  customs'  officers 
who  had  boarded  us,  beseeching  them  to 
grant  landing  permits  for  that  night,  and 
the  valets-de-place  of  the  different  hotels 
kept  shoving  cards  into  everybody's  hands. 
Decidedly  we  had  arrived  ! 

Soon  but  two  passengers  remained  on 
board,  of  the  sixty-two  who  had  traversed 
the  placid  seas  in  company.  The  night  air 


22  GAN-EDEN. 

in  the  harbor  was  so  mild,  that  I  could  not 
deny  myself  the  delight  of  dallying  a  little 
longer  with  the  sober  certainty  of  arrival. 
Weary  with  the  excitement  of  the  day,  but 
not  otherwise  conscious  of  that  great  illness 
from  which  I  had  so  lately  escaped,  I  lay 
on  the  deck  with  my  pleasant  English 
friend.  "We  watched  the  great  moon  and 
stars  come  out  into  the  purple  sky.  The 
lights  glittered  one  by  one  at  the  mast- 
heads of  the  war  ships  all  over  the  bay. 
The  sounds  from  the  shore  grew  fainter 
and  fainter,  and  the  familiar  strains  of 
"God  save  the  Queen"  coming  mellowed 
over  the  water  from  the  stately  English 
ship,  were  our  evening  hymn. 


CHAPTER  III. 

"Eambling  from  one  inn  to  another." 

JOHN  LOCKE. 

I  HAD  no  trouble  at  the  Aduana.  "Smith's 
Leading  Cases,"  two  delicate  octavos  in  calf- 
skin, attracted  the  attention  of  the  cour- 
teous official,  who  removed  his  cigar  to  ask 
an  explanation ; "  Las  leyes  de  Ingla  terra ! " 
I  solemnly  answered;  "Ah  si!"  and  evi- 
dently convinced  that  a  man  who  could 
not  travel  without  a  "  Corpus  Juris"  in  his 
portmanteau,  must  be  a  miracle  of  good 
behavior,  the  Aduanero  replaced  his  cigar, 
waved  his  hand  politely,  and  passed  our 
luggage.  I  found  him  afterwards  charged 
in  the  bill,  by  the  polite  and  excellent  An- 
tonio, our  Spanish  landlord,  who  had  come 
to  find  us  on  board  of  the  ship,  and  to 
pilot  us  to  his  house.  And  what  a  house ! 
neither  English,  nor  American,  nor  French ; 
a  genuine  Spanish  Posada,  colonial  indeed, 


24  GAN-EDEN. 

but  redolent  of  the  Asturias!  The  house 
was  once  a  bishop's  palace,  and  dates  from 
the  days  of  Velasquez  and  Cortez.  When 
this  house  was  built,  Puritanism  was  a  capi- 
tal joke,  and  the  king  of  the  Spains  was 
the  Bugaboo  of  all  Anglo- Saxondom.  How 
grave  and  quiet  was  the  company  at  the 
breakfast  table !  the  waiters,  how  good- 
humored  without  familiarity,  how  respect- 
ful without  servility!  An  amiable  New 
Zealander,  niy  friend  and  fellow  passenger, 
brought  me  to  this  place,  whither  uninitia- 
ted Americans  rarely  wander.  My  vigorous 
gratitude  ought  to  reach  him  at  the  Antip- 
odes. But  for  yonder  negress,  who,  with 
a  cigar  in  her  mouth,  is  ironing  at  a  large 
table  in  the  red-tiled  back  court  of  this 
second  story,  I  might  imagine  myself  to  be 
in  that  very  "  venta,  que  por  su  mal  Don 
Quixote  pensb  que  era  Castillo ! "  that  mem- 
orable inn  where  the  four  wool-combers 
Of  Segovia,  the  three  Cordovan  leather- 
dressers,  and  the  strollers  of  Seville,  that 
jocose  and  lively  folk  tossed  Sancho  in  a 
blanket  to  pay  his  master's  bill. 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  25 

The  squat  stone  pillars  and  low  arches  of 
the  gallery  which  runs  around  the  hollow 
square  of  the  house,  and  the  green  blinds 
which  shade  that  gallery,  give  a  Moorish 
air  to  the  interior.  Every  pillar  is  vocal 
with  Canary  birds.  The  rooms  around  the 
gallery  have  no  doors,  only  large  curtains, 
lazily  stirred  now  by  the  light  breeze.  The 
red  tiles  of  the  inner  roofs,  the  brown  stone 
floors,  the  serious,  dignified  Spanish  faces 
of  the  two  or  three  guests  lounging  in  the 
huge  antiquated  saloon,  the  heavy  mahog- 
any chairs,  ranged  in  two  -opposing  ranks 
between  the  enormous  doorway  and  the 
equally  enormous  window,  and  decorated 
each  with  a  coronet  of  faded  gilt,  the 
stuffed  tropical  birds  in  cases,  on  the  mass- 
ively carved  buffet,  the  queer  monkish  chan- 
delier dangling  from  the  dark  green  rafters 
of  the  high-pitched  ceiling,  all  conspire 
to  perfect  this  scene  of  warm  and  in- 
dolent delight.  From  my  balcony  of  dark 
green  wood,  I  look  up  the  short  vista 
of  a  street  about  twenty  feet  wide  to  a 
government  building,  an  Italian  palazzo 
3 


26  GAN-EDEN. 

painted  light  green,  and  picked  out  with 
white,  in  the  Plaza  de  Armas,  and  to  the 
sunny  garden  of  the  Plaza,  gay  with 
aloes  in  full  bloom,  and  fuchsias,  and  a 
hundred  other  tropical  flowers.  Above 
them  all  rises  a  marble  statue,  shaded  by 
three  noble  cocoa-nut  palms,  whose  rich 
plumes  of  brownish  green  wave  gracefully 
in  the  light  breeze,  while  their  smooth-look- 
ing grayish  white  trunks  gleam  brightly  in 
the  sunshine. 

From  the  little  shops  over  the  way,  in 
whose  terraced  roofs  I  recognize  "the  Abode 
of  Peace,  Bagdad,"  sally  forth  novel  figures ; 
sometimes  a  trig  little  Spaniard  in  white 
jacket  and  jaunty  sombrero,  sometimes  a 
stalwart  African  in  no  jacket  and  no  hat, 
his  rich  brown-black  skin  swelling  with  the 
tension  of  such  a  muscular  system  as  would 
not  discredit  a  lion.  Ever  and  anon,  a 
punchy  black  mule  with  stiff,  erect,  close- 
shaven  mane,  and  braided  tail  tied  with  gay 
ribbons  to  the  saddle,  comes  prancing  by 
in  the  shafts  of  a  gorgeous  volante,  or  a 
grey  donkey  shambles  along,  and  on  his 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  27 

back  a  Creole  boy,  with  smiling  kindly 
face,  and  great  black  eyes,  and  warm 
bright  complexion,  half  sitting,  half  lying 
between  two  great  straw  panniers  full  of 
oranges  or  zapotes,  or  pine-apples,  or  plan- 
tains. The  whole  spirit  of  the  place  is  that 
of  a  drowsier  Spanish  Italy.  For  the  laz- 
zaroni,  we  have  the  negroes,  many  of  them 
magnificent  Africans,  the  finest  specimens 
of  the  race  I  ever  saw.  Their  ways  are 
infinitely  queer.  For  instance,  they  use 
their  ears  for  pockets.  You  see  a  huge, 
tattooed,  bronze  Hercules  take  out  a  lucifer 
match  from  behind  one  ear,  and  a  long 
cigar  from  behind  the  other,  while  small 
silver  change  gleams  in  the  orifices  of 
both. 

I  have  since  gone  through  a  course  of 
hotels  in  Havana.  There  are  khans  far 
finer  than  this  Castilian  hostelry,  far  finer, 
and  far  costlier.  There  is  Le  Grand's,  out- 
side the  walls,  that  stately  Hotel-Restau- 
rant, where  bad  Bordeaux  wine,  and  worse 
Bordeaux  French,  make  such  a  mimicry  of 
Paris,  as  suffices  to  bewilder,  and  to  charm 


28  GAN-EDEN. 

the  aspiring  youth  of  Havana.  So  the 
young  cockney,  through  a  small  window 
of  his  own  Colosseum  gazing,  on  square 
yards  of  Alps,  and  cubic  inches  of  cascade, 
dreams  of  the  Traveller's  Club,  and  fasci- 
nates the  listening  ear  of  Clapham,  or  of 
Pentonville,  with  tales  of  bold  adventure ! 
Le  Grand's,  however,  is  a  truly  delightful 
house.  Passing  by,  one  night,  the  aspect 
of  the  Cafe  restaurant,  with  its  marble 
floors,  and  lofty  ceilings,  and  the  Parisian 
elegance  of  its  decorations,  and  the  quiet 
satisfaction  visible  on  the  faces  of  the  port- 
ly guests,  quite  attracted  me.  I  installed 
myself  there,  and  passed  a  pleasant  fort- 
night beneath  and  upon  its  hospitable  roof. 
That  lofty  azotea,  that  great  terraced 
housetop,  like  a  watchtower  of  Asmo- 
deus,  commands  the  roofs  of  half  the  city, 
and  when  the  sea-breeze  cools  the  even- 
ing air,  a  lively  little  upper  \vorld,  another 
"realm  of  the  birds,"  an  airy  kingdom  of 
sauntering  youths,  and  gaily  dressed  dam- 
sels, comes  finely  into  sight !  In  the  early 
morning,  how  lovely  is  the  view  from  that 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  29 

commanding  post!  how  delicious  the  fresh 
breath  of  the  ocean  which  rolls  its  broad 
shining  flood  half-way  around  the  horizon ! 
Algiers  seems  beneath  you  to  the  north, 
the  broad  promenade  and  European  city 
walls  to  the  south  .carry  the  imagination 
away  to  the  Peninsula;  while  to  the  east, 
the  vast  yellowish  masses  of  the  Cabanas, 
and  the  light-tower  of  the  Morro,  mark  the 
most  individual  feature  of  the  scene.  A 
fine  ship  going  out  under  full  sail,  two  or 
three  vessels  running  in  from  afar,  a  few 
large  birds  swaying  lazily  to  and  fro,  or 
circling  overhead,  and  the  clumsy  gallop 
of  the  volante  horses  below,  are  rarely 
wanting  to  give  life  and  animation  to  a 
scene,  which  would  otherwise  be  almost, 
oppressively  still,  in  the  broad  tropical 
light.  The  balconies  below,  in  the  early 
evening,  look  out  upon  the  Paseo  Isabel  II., 
thronged  with  all  its  promenading  world. 

One  thing  only  was  lacking  to  my  enjoy- 
ment of  this  admirable  house.     My  cham- 
ber would  have  been  a  disgrace  to  an  apart- 
ment au  cmquieme  in  the  Rue  de  la  Ver- 
3* 


30  GAN-EDEN. 

rerie.  The  saloon  was  a  large,  long,  hand- 
some room,  marble  floored,  and  furnished 
in  the  cool  sparing  fashion  of  the  country. 
Of  the  restaurant,  I  have  already  spoken. 
But  the  sleeping  rooms  of  the  hotel  were 
small,  ill-contrived,  and  vilely  furnished. 
An  attenuated  bed,  a  dilapidated  wash- 
stand,  and  space  for  a  trunk,  limited  my 
host's  idea  of  necessary  lodging-rooms.  To 
be  sure  this  notion  was  not  particular  to 
him,  but  general  to  the  native.  Some 
private  families,  of  high  respectability,  are 
in  the  habit  of  turning  loose  a  number  of 
cots  into  their  vast  saloons  at  night,  for  the 
accommodation  of  some  of  the  multitudi- 
nous members  that  go  to  make  up  a  house- 
hold in  this  prolific  region.  And  at  the 
best  American  hotel  in  the  city,  to  which 
also  I  roved,  the  accommodations  were 
such,  that  I  have  known  more  than  one 
very  worshipful  party  landed  in  the  morn- 
ing from  New  York  take  flight  in  the 
afternoon  for  New  Orleans,  at  the  mere 
aspect  of  their  sleeping  apartment !  In 
truth,  one  is  forced  to  smile  at  the  ridicu- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  31 

lous  contrast  between  his  expenditure  and 
his  entertainment.  In  London  or  Paris, 
one  may  spend  vast  sums  of  money  in  the 
purchase  of  ephemeral  satisfactions,  and 
magnificent  trifles,  but  the  satisfactions, 
however  expensive,  will  be  satisfactory, 
and  the  trifles,  however  trivial,  will  be 
magnificent.  In  Havana,  one  pays  the 
price  of  luxuries  for  necessities,  and  those 
poor  of  their  kind.  If  a  man  could  live  on 
guava  jelly  and  cigars,  I  suppose  he  might 
find  Havana  an  economical  place ;  but  if  he 
requires  any  thing  else,  if  he  wants  bread 
and  meat,  and  water,  and  a  good  bed  to 
sleep  in,  let  him  go  to  Antioch  or  Aucona, 
to  Brindisi  or  to  Bassorah,  rather  than  to 
Havana.  At  his  hotel  he  will  have  to  pay 
more  than  at  the  best  New  York  houses, 
and  if  he  ever  humbly  expostulated  with 
that  feudal  baron,  his  landlord,  at  the  St. 
Nicholas,  or  the  New  York,  for  putting  him 
up  stairs  beyond  the  reach  of  waiters,  and 
in  a  room  so  small  that  he  must  go  out  of 
the  window  to  get  into  bed,  he  will  repent 
his  disloyal  murmuring  against  the  fiat  of 


32  GAN-EDEN. 

American  autocracy,  when  he  learns  that 
the  second  bed  in  his  Havana  chamber  is 
likely  at  any  moment  to  be  tenanted  by  a 
stranger,  and  that  when  two  adventitious 
cots  have  cut  off  his  approach  to  the  wash- 
stand  and  the  looking-glass,  a  fourth  weary 
wanderer  just  landed  from  the  Chagres 
steamer,  may  be  laid  to  die  of  the  Isthmus 
fever  in  his  own  double  bed.  This  is  no 
fancy  sketch.  "Such  things  have  been." 
Whenever  I  was  lucky  enough  to  have  a 
room  to  myself,  I  felt  the  constant  anxiety 
of  a  respited  criminal.  Now,  surely,  a  car- 
avanserai is  much  better  than  this.  Far 
better  bring  one's  bed  with  one,  sure  of  a 
place  apart  where  to  lay  it  down  privately 
and  peacefully,  than  sleep  on  furnished 
down  after  this  fashion.  It  is  quite  too 
romantic,  and  too  vividly  reminds  you  of 
Maritornes  and  the  mishaps  of  the  Posada. 
It  likes  me  not,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
railroads,  is  intolerable.  Let  us  have  one 
thing  or  another.  If  we  must  sleep  four  in 
a  room,  let  us  travel  exclusively  afranc-etrier, 
and  dine  every  day  under  the  trees,  with 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  33 

strolling  actors.  But  it  is  sadly  inharmoni- 
ous, this  juxtaposition  of  the  middle  ages 
at  our  inn  with  the  nineteenth  century  on 
the  road.  These  sudden  changes  of  mental 
temperature,  are  trying  as  those  of  a  New 
England  spring. 


CHAPTER   IV, 

Les  plaisirs  out  leur  tour, 
C'est  leur  plus  doux  usage 
Que  de  finir  les  soins  du  jour. 

MOLIK'RK. 

IT  was  a  high  festival  day  on  which  I 
first  drove  out  to  the  Paseos,  the  Champs 
Elyse'es  of  Havana. 

On  our  way  we  passed  a  church,  out  of 
which  was  moving  the  most  absurd  imagin- 
able religious  procession.  Let. Naples  hide 
her  diminished  head,  and  Einsiedeln  be 
rebuked !  First  came  four  negroes,  playing 
the  violin,  bass-viol,  flute,  and  flageolet,  rol- 
ling their  eyes,  and  grinning  in  an  ecstasy 
of  jocose  importance.  Then,  boys  and  men 
carrying  candles,  and  shoving  everybody 
aside,  like  newly  appointed  policemen. 
Then,  a  hangdog  looking  friar  in  a  greasy 
white  gown,  with  cowl  thrown  back,  care- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  35 

lessly  swinging,  or  rather  jerking,  a  huge 
censer,  and  glancing  upward,  from  side  to 
side,  at  the  balconies,  full  of  fair  Habaneras, 
as  he  slouched  along.  Then  four  men,  car- 
rying a  gilded  canopy,  in  front  of  which 
paraded  a  boy  in  white,  and  a  priest  in 
white  silk  and  gold,  bearing  the  shining 
Host,  and  followed  by  another  priest,  in 
yellow  silk  and  gold.  Then  "the  army 
incog.,"  black,  white,  and  yellow.  An  om- 
nibus, (are  there  not  omnibus-gondolas 
in  Venice !)  an  omnibus  got  in  their  way, 
as  it  was  natural  such  a  heretical,  modern 
French  monstrosity  should  do.  Livid  with 
rage,  the  censer-man,  more  incensed  than 
ever  I  saw  monk  before,  rushed  up,  swore 
at  the  driver,  stopped  the  horses,  and  turn- 
ed out  the  passengers.  The  driver,  a  good 
looking  young  Spaniard,  bowed,  crossed 
himself,  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  winked 
at  the  spectators.  The  passengers  humbly 
gave  up,  except  one  grey»haired  American 
in  spectacles,  who  fought  the  priest  through 
the  window  with  an  umbrella,  and  was  only 
dislodged  by  the  joint  and  furious  swearing 


36  GAN-EDEN. 

of  the  holy  man,  and  five  or  six  soldiers 
who  came  to  his  assistance.  I  never  saw  a 
more  disgusting  scene. 

The  Paseos  make  the  most  charming  of 
promenades.  Beyond  the  walls  stretch  for 
several  miles,  broad,  well-made  roads,  bor- 
dered with  stately  buildings  near  the  city, 
and  lined  throughout  their  whole  extent 
with  fine  rows  of  poplars  and  of  palms. 
Some  of  these  Paseos  are  adorned  with  roy- 
al statues,  more  or  less  hideous,  with  foun- 
tains, or  with  gardens.  With  the  Plaza  de 
Armas,  the  Paseos,  and  the  Alameda,  or 
Poplar  Walk,  de  Paula,  a  delightful  well- 
paved  walk  along  a  sea-wall,  somewhat 
resembling  the  approach  to  the  Villa  Reale 
at  Naples,  Havana  has  received  no  younger 
sister's  portion.  The  Paseos  are  the  after- 
noon resort  of  the  fine  world.  There,  just 
before  sundown,  the  footways  are  throng- 
ed with  hundreds  of  young  Creole  exqui- 
sites, hi  their  eternal  uniform  of  black  and 
white,  vindicating  the  universal  incongrui- 
ties of  fashion,  by  the  substitution  of  an 
ugly  heavy  beaver  hat  for  the  easy  and 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  37 

pretty  sombrero  of  the  morning.  The  eyes 
of  all  these  youths  are  directed  with  a  per- 
tinacity of  impertinence,  which  at  first 
awakens  tingling  sensations  in  the  toe  of  a 
Northern  boot,  upon  the  countenances  and 
persons  of  the  hundreds  of  young  ladies 
who  are  trotted  slowly  up  and  down  the 
carriage  roads,  in  the  wide  and  open  vo- 
lantes.  Soon,  however,  the  conviction  forces 
itself  upon  the  stranger,  that  the  young 
ladies  doat  upon  this  impertinence,  and  tvill 
be  looked  at.  Certainly  the  exhibition  is  a 
wonderfully  brilliant  one  !  Mr.  Angus  Mc- 
Kaskill,  the  Nova  Scotia  giant,  and  a  genu- 
ine Polar  Walrus,  whose  seducing  likenesses 
just  now  adorn  the  useless  city  walls;  must 
surely  solicit  the  public  attention  in  vain, 
when  such  a  pageant  as  this  is  nightly 
open  to  the  world !  The  rich  sunlight  falls 
upon  hundreds  of  beautiful  heads,  tastefully 
dressed  as  if  for  the  opera  or  the  ballroom, 
and  adorned  generally  with  fine  natural 
flowers.  The  features  of  the  Creole  ladies 
are  generally  good,  and  the  complexions  of 
the  younger  among  them,  though  perfectly 
4 


38  GAN-EDEN. 

pale,  are  of  that  rich  paleness,  that  sunny 
hue  of  antique  marble,  which  distinguished 
the  face  of  Napoleon  in  his  youth.  The 
elderly  ladies,  generally  riding  sandwiched 
between  two  younger  ones,  are  not  often 
more  attractive  than  Napoleon  in  his  fat 
and  flabby  age.  Rarely  among  the  Cuban 
ladies  of  maturer  years,  does  one  see  those 
healthy,  sweet,  and  venerable  faces  which 
so  often  make  old  age  lovely  in  the  north. 
These  dames  and  damsels  are  arrayed  in  the 
most  intense  colors,  fiery  red,  ultramarine 
blue,  gamboge  yellow,  colors  as  vivid  as 
the  hues  of  the  flamingo  and  the  parrot, 
the  cactus-flower  and  the  jaquey.  But 
these  glowing  colors  belong  naturally 
enough  to  a  landscape  where  all  things 
glow,  in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth. 
The  line  of  volantes  is  broken  at  intervals, 
by  some  ambitious  Don  fretting  his  help- 
less, heavily  bitted,  long-tailed  steed  into  a 
continual  caracole,  or  by  the  close  English 
carriage  of  some  exclusive  noble,  or  enter- 
prising hotel  keeper.  Gradually  the  car- 
riages roll  off  the  ground.  Sallow  inane 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  39 

young  men  go  swinging  their  canes 
through  the  gates.  The  long  procession 
of  the  watchmen,  walking  two  and  two 
with  lighted  lanterns  appears,  and  lo !  it 
is  night.  Night,  which  falls  not  sweetly 
and  slowly  down  around  the  weary  world, 
as  in  the  northern  climes,  but  comes  down 
suddenly,  almost  with  a  jerk,  as  if  the  string 
of  a  curtain  had  broken !  At  night,  the 
tropic  world  is  all  awake,  all  tremulous 
with  life  and  light.  The  streets  within 
the  walls  are  thronged  and  gay.  Then  the 
ladies  of  condition  go  shopping,  and  their 
volantes  crowd  the  narrow  streets.  The 
fair  inmates,  disdaining  to  descend,  are 
waited  on  by  familiar,  yet  courteous  shop- 
men, Spaniards  of  old  Spain,  and  masters 
of  that  courteous  familiarity,  in  which,  as  in 
so  many  other  graceful  traits,  the  Moor  still 
triumphs  in  the  heart  of  Spain.  One  feels 
the  Orient  too,  in  the  equanimity  with 
which  the  dignified  dealer  in  genuine  Ee- 
galias,  or  wonderful  fans,  condescends  to 
waive  a  trifle  of  forty  or  fifty  per  cent.,  on 
the  original  price  he  had  asked  for  his 


40  GAN-EDEN. 

admirable  wares.  And  do  you  not  seem  to 
see  that  incomparable  lady  of  Bassorah,  to 
whom  the  young  silk  merchant  gave  such 
long  credit,  and  loaned  such  large  sums,  on 
the  mere  security  of  her  magnificent  eyes, 
when  you  hear  the  stately  and  sounding 
adulation  with  which  these  Peninsular 
tradesmen  ply  their  customers,  adroitly 
puffing  not  their  goods,  but  the  fair  buyers 
thereof?  The  ecstatic  ejaculations  which 
burst  from  the  lips  of  the  Persian  princes, 
when  they  first  beheld  themselves  sur- 
rounded by  the  unveiled  Houris  of  a  Lon- 
don drawing-room,  are  the  daily  license  of 
the  young  Habanero,  nor  do  the  native 
ladies  take  any  offence  at  the  compliment- 
ary nonsense  which  salutes  their  ^passage 
through  the  streets.  But  I  shall  not  soon 
forget  the  mixture  of  alarm  and  indigna- 
tion with  which  a  northern  lady  of  my  ac- 
quaintance, sallying  from  the  hotel  door  for 
her  first  volante  expedition,  heard  herself 
addressed  by  two  youths,  who  took  off  their 
hats  in  passing,  and  exclaimed,  "  Go  with 
God !  lovely  and  beautiful  American !  Long 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  41 

live  your  loveliness,  and  long  live  Amer- 
ica!" Yet  as  she  chanced  to  be  very 
pretty,  and  as  America  is  by  no  means 
unpopular  with  the  Creoles,  she  grew  quite 
accustomed  to  such  salutations,  before  the 
ride  was  over,  and  even  submitted  with  a 
tolerably  good  grace  to  receive  the  informa- 
tion from  a  waiter  at  the  Cafe*,  where  she 
stopped  to  take  an  ice,  "that  the  ices  of 
the  beautiful  ladies  had  been  paid  for,  by  a 
Caballero  who  had  gone  out ! " 

At  night,  too,  the  daughters  of  the  mid- 
dling classes,  arrayed  in  their  best,  stand 
behind  the  gratings  of  the  huge  ground 
floor  windows,  guiltless  of  glass,  and  gaze 
out  upon  the  busy  street, .  while  their 
dowdy  mammas,  in  the  easiest  undress, 
rock  slowly  in  the  huge  butacas,  or  arm- 
chairs, which  are  always  arranged  in  two 
parallel  lines  from  the  front  windows.  The 
promenaders  without,  so  narrow  are  the 
side-walks,  almost  brush  the  dresses  of  the 
young  ladies  within,  yet  the  wax-women 
who  so  obligingly  lead  the  fashions,  in 
the  shop-windows  of  Broadway  and  Wash- 
4* 


42  GAN-EDEN. 

ington  street,  are  not  more  impassive  under 
the  stare  of  rural  wonder  or  delight,  than 
are  these  Creole  damsels  under  the  bold 
gaze  of  native  criticism  or  foreign  admi- 
ration, to  which  they  are  nightly  sub- 
jected. How  favorable  this  arrangement 
is  to  the  commerce  in  billets  doux,  I  need 
not  say,  and  as  the  windows  are  gene- 
rally somewhat  bowed,  I  have  even  wit- 
nessed exchanges  of  a  more  tender  nature, 
made  through  the  gratings.  At  night  the 
Plaza  de  Armas  is  in  its  glory.  The  Plaza 
de  Armas  is  not  so  large  as  Hyde  Park, 
neither  does  it  at  all  resemble  the  Battery ; 
and  those  wise  people  who  disdain  Drachen- 
Ms,  for  its  little  likeness  to  Anthony's 
Nose,  and  despise  Windermere,  because  it 
is  but  a  teacup  beside  the  great  wash-tub 
of  Lake  Erie,  find  the  Plaza  de  Annas 
neither  fair  nor  pleasing.  Yet  it  seems  to 
me  a  charming  place,  with  its  picturesque 
frontiers  of  Southern  buildings,  and  its  cita- 
del of  marble  quiet,  when  the  hot  noon 
broods  above  its  silent  palms,  and  still, 
dreaming,  odorous  flowers.  A  charming 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  43 

place,  suggesting  recollections  more  charm- 
ing still  of  lovelier  places,  of  the  gardens  of 
King  Agib,  and  of  the  courts  wherein 
"Ganem,  the  Distracted  Slave  of  Love," 
recited  extemporaneous  verses  to  the  dark- 
eyed  Alcolomb.  And  at  night  the  Plaza  de 
Armas  has  new  charms  of  its  own.  Then 
the  regimental  bands  gathered  around  the 
conspicuous  marble  statue  of  Ferdinand 
VII.,  discourse  most  passionate  music ;  then, 
moving  groups  of  ladies  in  mantillas,  and 
caballeros,  (alas  that  I  must  write  it!)  in 
black  dress  coats  and  white  pantaloons, 
chequer  the  rich  moonlight  on  the  mar- 
ble pavements,  and  swarthy  slaves  glancing 
with  ornaments  of  silver  and  of  gold,  lean 
over  the  low  walls,  bandying  their  chuck- 
ling wit  in  their  strange  negro  Spanish; 
and  half  hidden  in  the  broad  shadows  of  the 
buildings  round  about  the  Plaza,  dark-eyed 
Alcolombs  receive  the  homage  of  meeker 
and  less  ecstatic  Ganems,  assiduous  beside 
those  wondrous  vehicles,  which,  to  the  lady 
of  Havana,  are  gondola  and  throne,  fauteuil 
and  palanquin  at  once. 

At  nine  o'clock  the  bands  march  off  the 


44  GAN-EDEN. 

ground.  The  volantes  follow,  and  the  aim- 
less masculine  world  repairs  to  the  Cafes. 
The  Cafes  are  stately  squares  of  marble 
columns,  open  in  the  centre  to  the  airs  of 
heaven,  and*  refreshed  with  the  plashing  of 
fountains.  There  the  representatives  of 
half  the  nations  of  the  world  are  to  be 
found,  the  heavy  moustachio  of  the  Span- 
ish dragoon,  and  the  ruddy,  clean  shaven 
visage  of  the  English  middy,  equally  active 
in  the  discussion  of  all  manner  of  new  and 
fragrant  compounds,  cool  with  Northern 
ice,  and  aromatic  with  the  life  of  tropic 
fruits.  There,  oysters  are  a  costly  luxury, 
and  pineapples  are  a  drug,  and  nobody 
reads  the  newspaper.  An  uproarious  con- 
fusion of  tongues,  the  continual  ringing 
from  the  little  silver  braziers,  which  the 
unwearied  waiters  clatter  down  upon  the 
marble  tables  in  answer  to  the  perpetual 
cries  of  " Candela !  Candela !"  (Fire !  Fire!) 
which  echo  through  the  building,  and  a 
ceaseless  movement  to  and  fro  in  the  bright 
gas-light  distinguish  the  world  of  men  with- 
in. Without,  the  ladies  in  their  volantes 
take  ices,  and  a  little  more  gallantry. 


CHAPTER  V. 

"  Spectacles,  bals,  festins,  concerts,  conversations." 

GIL,  BLAS  at  Lirias. 

PEOPLE  in  the  tropics  rarely  perpetrate 
those  wild  excesses  with  which  the  north- 
ern races  warm  their  frozen  blood.  The 
tropics  are  the  home  of  temperance  and 
regularity.  The  very  winds  are  always 
methodical  in  their  madness,  and  give  man- 
kind timely  notice  of  their  intended  orgies, 
like  that  considerate  nobleman,  who  used 
to  announce  to  his  friends,  "  Next  Thursday, 
by  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  I  propose  to  be 
drunk."  The  life  of  a  Habanero  dandy  is 
as  systematic  as  that  of  a  New  England 
deacon.  The  morning,  whether  passed  in  a 
lutaca,  or  behind  a  desk  in  one  of  those 
enormous  marble-floored  counting-houses, 
which  give  such  a  princely  air  to  the  mer- 
cantile life  of  Havana,  is  passed  quietly  and 


46  GAN-EDEN. 

calmly.  The  afternoon  melts  impercep- 
tibly away  at  one  of  those  Creole  dinner- 
tables,  where  luxury  of  equipage  and 
entertainment  so  harmoniously  combines 
with  perfect  simplicity  of  manners  to  fur- 
nish a  meal,  which,  like  the  suppers  of 
Plato,  is  "  a  pleasure  not  for  the  moment 
only,  but  for  many  succeeding  days."  Then 
comes  the  serene  lounge  in  the  balcony, 
with  some  domestic  charmer,  or  the  saunter 
along  the  crowded  Paseo.  The  evening 
belongs  to  the  Plaza  de  Armas,  or  to  the 
corridor  of  the  Opera  House.  Should  a 
ball  or  a  party  break  the  uniformity  of  this 
routine,  the  preparation  for  such  a  festival 
involves  no  such  expenditure  of  thought 
and  labor,  as  the  assiduous  Northerner  under- 
goes in  a  like  case.  The  prevailing  expres- 
sion of  equanimity  which  distinguishes  the 
Creole  face,  testifies  to  the  facility  with 
which  the  Creole  lives.  Plainly  the  Creole 
wastes  upon  the  economic  and  moral  ends 
of  human  life,  no  more  thought  than  is 
bestowed  upon  the  great  corn-grinding 
and  board-sawing  mission  of  all  running 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  47 

waters,  by  the  lazy  streams  and  streamlets 
that  go  dancing  and  dawdling  on  for  miles 
through  the  savage  woodland.  The  Creole 
dandy,  (compassionate  him,  oh  thou  his 
serious  Northern  brother!)  drifts  slowly 
down  his  sluggish  canal  of  life  without  a 
dream  of  struggle  or  endeavor.  Some- 
times he  riots  in  a  melodious  operatic  rage ; 
but  the  wave  rises  highest  in  his  heart, 
whenever  the  Dulcinea  of  the  moment 
makes  his  encircling  arm  her  stay  in  the 
slow,  graceful  whirl  of  that  delicious  contra- 
danza,  which  is  the  rhythmic  utterance  of 
his  warm  languid  life.  Oh !  how  wooingly, 
how  trancingly  floats  now  through  my 
memory,  the  soft  enthralling  music  of  that 
luxurious  dance !  a  mystery  as  strange  and 
sweet  as  is  all  that,  life  so  alien  from  our 
own,  which  flavors  the  tropic  world !  It  is 
the  dance  of  Cuba,  and  the  children  of 
Cuba  alone  have  its  secret.  You  can  al- 
ways detect  the  foreigner  through  all  the 
grace  and  all  the  precision  of  his  step.  The 
dance  is  the  earliest  and  most  national  of 
national  lyrics.  The  Tarantella,  maddening 


48  GAN-EDEN. 

on  the  moonlit  sands  of  Sorrento;  the 
Cachucha,  inspiring  every  limb  of  the  af- 
dent  daughter  of  Andalusia;  the  contra- 
danza,  pouring  the  plaintive  passion  of  its 
wailing  cadences  through  every  nerve  and 
vein  of  the  pale,  dark-eyed  Creoles,  till  the 
very  music  seems  to  come  from  them, 

"  And  all  the  notes  appear  to  be 
The  echoes  of  their  feet :  " 

these  may  all  be  felt,  but  cannot  be  fathom- 
ed by  the  stranger.  The  measure  of  the 
contradanza  always  brought  before  me  vis- 
ions of  "  the  mild-eyed  melancholy"  Indians, 
of  that  soft,  unwarlike  people  to  whom 
life  was  one  sweet  song  and  breathing 
dance  in  this  fair  island,  before  the  greedy 
Spaniard  came  with  traffic  and  with  toil, 
to  sweep  them  from  the  earth.  The 
music  of  the  Indian  names  and  words 
which  the  conquerors  have  preserved,  is 
kindred  in  character  with  the  measure  of 
the  contradanza.  Guanabacoa,  Camarioca, 
Baracoa,  Guanajay,  guanavana,  guayava; 
the  soft  delaying  flow  of  such  words  as 
these  revives  for  us  the  whole  spirit  of  the 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  49 

vanished  people,  to  whom  to  die  was  easier 
than  to  work.  Long  may  it  be  before  the 
camp  dances  of  the  big-booted  Sclavoni- 
ans,  or  the  mincing  absurdities  of  the  diplo- 
matic quadrille,  shall  banish  from  the 
saloons  of  Cuba,  their  own  most  graceful 
and  expressive  measure ! 

The  present  customs  of  the  land  in 
regard  to  the  intercourse  of  the  young 
people,  are  a  great  shield  to  the  cmttradanza.. 
The  youths  and  maidens  could  not  spare 
it.  Every  Cuban  young  lady  is  carefully 
secluded  from  the  approaches  of  "young 
Cuba,"  by  a  system  of  modified  duenna- 
dom.  On  the  Paseo,  and  particularly  on 
the  Plaza  de  Armas,  the  shepherd  may  in- 
deed converse  with  his  nymph,  but  always 
under  the  eye  of  her  dragon,  and  the  third 
visit  of  Lycidas  to  Chloris,  subjects  him  to  a 
tete-£-tete  with  Chloris  m&re,  and  to  a  spe- 
cific investigation  into  his  intentions.  The 
mazes  of  the  contradanza  alone  are  free,  and 
in  that  brief  season  of  sunshine,  flirtations 
spring  up  like  flowers  in  the  fleeting  Scan- 
dinavian summer. 

5 


50  GAN-EDEN. 

Social  entertainments  at  Havana  borrow 
a  great  charm,  too,  from  the  spaciousness 
and  airiness  of  the  houses.  The  lofty  ceil- 
ings, the  long  capacious  rooms,  the  huge 
windows  opening  upon  moonlit  balconies, 
lend  to  the  balls  and  parties  of  Havana  an 
air  of  ease  and  amplitude,  which  makes 
them  seem  more  social,  and  more  enter- 
taining too,  than  the  "jams  "  of  the  North. 
The  ladies,  when  not  dancing,  to  be  sure, 
are  apt  to  run  to  the  walls,  and  the  gentle- 
men to  eddy  around  the  door-posts,  after  a 
fashion  usually  regarded  as  Anglo-Saxon, 
yet  which  is  quite  as  much  in  vogue  among 
the  Southern  nations,  as  in  London  or  Bos- 
ton. But  conversation,  however  trivial, 
is  here  more  freely  carried  on,  and  one  is 
not  oppressed  writh  the  sensual  horrors  of 
supper  as  in  the  States.  The  climate,  too, 
compels  the  men,  in  particular,  to  dress 
more  rationally,  and  you  never  see  a  sweet 
temper  soured  by  tight  boots,  or  a  noble 
nature  humbled  under  the  tyranny  of  a 
shirt-collar.  A  party  at  Havana  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  congress  of  polking 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  51 

children,  and  oyster-eating  adults.  What- 
ever refreshments  are  offered,  are  always 
better  calculated  to  revive,  than  to  stun 
the  system;  and  I  should  think  that  a  fort- 
night of  "  the  season  "  at  New  York  would 
be  more  detrimental  to  body  and  mind, 
than  months  of  gaiety  in  the  Southern 
capital.  The  "  tertulia,"  which  is  the  more 
common  form  of  entertainment  in  Havana, 
is  very  simple,  and  much  less  trying  than 
a  tea-party.  It  is,  in  fact,  nothing  but  a 
kind  of  "  reception."  The  capital  required 
for  a  Northern  "  reception,"  being  mainly  a 
pair  of  black  pantaloons,  and  a  perpetual 
smile,  for  a  Cuban  tertulia,  a  perpetual 
smile,  and  a  pair  of  white  pantaloons  will 
suffice. 

The  easiest  and  pleasantest  form  of  social 
life  at  Havana,  however,  is  the  great,  gene- 
ral "  tertulia  "  of  the  eidr*  actes  at  the  Opera 
House.  Everybody  knows  that  the  Tacon 
Theatre  is  the  largest  in  America,  and  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  world.  Madame  Cal- 
derou  familiarized  us  with  the  splendors  of 
its  appearance,  to  which,  indeed,  that  lively 


52  GAN-EDEN. 

lady  did  no  more  than  justice.  The  well- 
dressed  pit  relieves,  with  masses  of  black 
and  white,  the  variegated  glitter  of  the 
boxes.  Inclosed  only  by  a  slender  gilded 
railing,  these  boxes  display  very  finely  the 
flashing  eyes,  and  flashing  diamonds,  the 
dark  tresses,  and  glowing  dresses  of  fair 
Havana.  Each  box  contains  a  family  party 
with  a  seat  or  two  to  spare,  and  throughout 
the  evening  each  family  receives  visitors, 
who  wander  around  the  great  cool  passage- 
ways, peep  through  the  latticed  partitions, 
and  spend  their  evenings  as  that  ancient 
bachelor  his  mornings,  "  in  making  dodging 
calls,  and  wriggling  round  among  the 
ladies."  When  the  spectacle  within  grows 
tedious,  you  wander  into  those  great  corri- 
dors, refreshed  with  breezes  that  blow 
through  enormous  windows,  and  throng- 
ed with  animated  groups.  Impertinent 
looking  soldiers  in  their  white  uniforms 
stalk  majestically  about,  shoving  the  Cre- 
oles, and  making  way  for  foreigners,  while 
at  the  open  door  of  every  box  "  obsequious 
darkness  waits "  in  gold-laced  livery.  It  is 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  53 

more  sad  than  amusing,  however,  to  witness 
one  feature  of  this  brilliant  spectacle.  The 
Creole  children,  in  too  many  cases,  shock 
the  eye  by  their  costume,  and  their  man- 
ners, more  than  they  win  it  by  their 
beauty  of  person  and  of  feature.  One 
rarely  sees  a  positively  ugly  child  in  Ha- 
vana. But  quite  as  rarely  does  one  see  a 
childly  child.  It  is  one  of  the  sad  conse- 
quences of  the  system  of  social  life  in  the 
Island,  that  children  associated  with  their 
mothers  in  the  ballroom,  the  dining-room, 
and  the  theatre,  from  the  tenderest  years, 
that  they  may  escape  the  contamination  of 
slave  influence,  are  forced  into  a  precocity, 
compared  with  which  the  sophistication  of 
Punch's  immortal  juveniles  resembles  the 
innocence  of  the  babes  in  the  wood.  And 
there  they  are  at  the  Opera  House,  mirror- 
ing "the  greater  audience  in  an  audience 
less,"  the  absurd  little  boys  in  tight  body- 
coats  and  high  hats,  swinging  jewelled  canes, 
the  girls  laced,  fringed,  flounced  like  their 
mammas,  flirting,  too,  like  them,  their  costly 
fans  with  the  imitated  air,  and  too  often 
5* 


54  GAN-EDEN. 

with  the  genuine  expression  of  the  matur- 
est  coquetry.  Over  them  the  moralist 
drops  a  tear.  The  hopeful  traveller  re- 
calls with  grateful  heart  the  memory  of 
other  little  ones,  more  in  number,  too, 
than  the  Piper  left  in  Hamelin,  in  whose 
bright  eyes  childhood  laughed,  whose  red 
lips  budded  only  in  the  sinless  smile  of 
happy  infancy,  and  thereupon,  beholds  the 
Cuban  future  shine  more  cheerily  upon  his 
thought. 

This  winter  Havana  has  had  no  Italian 
troupe.  I  should  have  been  glad  to  see 
one  of  those  deifications,  which  have  so 
easily  won  for  Havana  the  reputation  of 
being  a  very  musical  city.  A  StefFanoni, 
crowned  with  silver,  and  pelted  with  jewels, 
a  Marini,  ranting  in  regal  state,  would  have 
been  a  sight  worth  seeing.  The  applauses 
of  such  an  audience  as  Havana  could 
furnish,  must  come  down  like  a  tropical 
shower,  undiscriminating,  fierce,  and  appall- 
ing. For  while  the  musical  cultivation 
of  Havana  is  evidently  very  imperfect,  the 
Creole  nature  and  the  Creole  education 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  55 

must  make  the  Habaneros  very  suscep- 
tible of  the  titillating  influence  of  merely 
sensuous  music.  One  would  not  look 
here  for  such  an  intelligent  and  judicial 
furore  as  those  that  have  so  often  shaken 
the  walls  of  the  Fenice  and  La  Scala,  of 
the  Pergola  and  San  Carlo,  but  a  gushing, 
irrational,  dispendious  enthusiasm  is  always 
entertaining  to  the  calmer  spectator.  It  is 
pleasant  to  see  how  much  the  Creoles  en- 
joy the^very  indifferent  music  which  they 
like.  The  Clubs  of  Havana  (for  the  Eng- 
lish club-house  has  wandered  further  than 
the  Chinese  herb,  or  the  Arabian  berry,  and 
has  undergone  as  many  culinary  modifica- 
tions as  they,)  partake  of  the  character  of 
Philharmonic  Societies.  It  was  very  agree- 
able to  see  this  innovation  upon  the  bearish 
system  of  the  club-house,  and  though  the 
performances  were  ordinary  enough,  and 
the  programmes  such  as  are  now  served  up 
only  for  the  delectation  of  second-rate  New 
England  towns,  the  extravagant,  and  evi- 
dently sincere  enjoyment  of  the  audiences 
quite  won  my  sympathies.  The  music  seU- 


56  G AX-ED  EX. 

ers  in  the  town,  too,  though  their  shelves 
would  have  driven  a  genuine  Mendels1 
sohnian  of  Boston  quite  wild  with  disgust, 
seemed  to  be  doing  a  more  extensive  busi- 
ness than  I  should  have  fancied  possible, 
in  a  community  where  aesthetic  cultiva- 
tion generally  is  at  so  low  an  ebb.  Ger- 
man and  classical  Italian  music  are  in  very 
little  demand,  but  Donizetti  and  Verdi  must 
weep  and  howl  by  turns,  through^a  third 
of  the  better  houses  of  Havana.  ^This  is 
very  well  for  a  city  where  you  cannot  pur- 
chase a  decent  box  of  colors,  or  a  tolerable 
drawing-book. 

And  I  was  really  surprised  to  hear  that 
Jenny  Lind  had  not  paid  her  expenses  in 
Havana.  For  it  required  hardly  more  than 
the  sense  of  hearing  to  fit  persons  of  merely 
average  capacity  for  the  enjoyment  of  her 
delicious  singing,  at  once  so  singular  and 
so  simple  was  it  in  its  excellence.  What 
mattered  the  cloud  of  humbug  from  which 
the  angelic  accents  issued  ?  Had  she  been 
conducted  by  a  company  of  Connecticut 
clock-makers  j  had  she  been  pardoned  out 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  57 

of  the  galleys,  I  should  not  have  supposed 
that  any  tolerably  educated  public  could  be 
insensible  to  the  fascinations  of  her  voice 
and  her  method. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

"  Sta  d'  alta  torre,  e  scopre  i  monti  e  i  campi." 

TASSO. 

FEW  persons  expect  to  find  much  beauty 
in  the  environs  of  Havana.  Yet  few  cities 
*of  the  New  World  can  compare  in  this 
respect  with  the  Cuban  capital.  It  was  my 

good    fortune   to   fall   in   with    S ,  the 

grave  scenery -hunting  German  painter, 
who,  after  filling  portfolio  upon  portfolio 
with  visions  of  Egypt  and  the  East,  of 
Europe  and  of  Africa,  had  wandered  hither 
on  his  way  to  Yucatan  and  Mexico.  In 
his  company  I  spent  many  a  delightful 
hour  upon  the  fine  sloping  hills  which  sur- 
round the  city.  The  suburbs,  of  Regla 
where  the  foreign  ships  anchor,  and  the 
admirable  storehouses  stand,  Jesus  del 
mbnte,  Guanabacoa,  which  claims  to  be 
an  old  Indian  town,  where  Caciques  ruled 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  59 

and  the  terrible  Cemis  was  worshipped, 
and  the  Cerro,  are  all  interesting  in  them- 
selves, and  offer  various  and  noble  views  of 
the  city  and  the  bay.  The  Dane  in  the 
Improvisatore  who  exclaims  as  the  dili- 
gence rolls  into  Itri,  that  dirt  and  the  pic- 
turesque are  inseparable,  would  rejoice  over 
these  ancient  villages,  so  solid  at  once  and 
so  squalid.  Such  rich  browns  and  blacks 
in  the  interiors!  Such  fine  besmooched 
red  roofs!  Guanabacoa  is  the  most  fash- 
ionable watering-place  of  the  Island  dur- 
ing the  summer  months.  The  lavish  in- 
stincts of  the  Creole  nature,  and  the  opu- 
lence of  Cuban  society,  are  then  displayed 
in  all  their  brilliancy.  In  the  winter  the 
old  Indian  city  is  a  quiet,  dreamy,  deserted 
place,  as  dull  as  a  dead  moth.  You  may 
reach  it  by  a  charming  road  wrhich  runs 
around  the  bay,  or,  more  appropriately,  by 
a  kind  of  decayed  railway,  from  which  the 
noise  and  the  speed  of  the  engine  have 
vanished,  as  the  glitter  and  the  chatter  of 
young  life  from  this  Newport  of  the  Cubans. 
Tired  mules  haul  the  faded,  battered,  soli- 


60  GAN-EDEN. 

tary  car  along  the  worn  and  shaking  rails. 
But  however  you  may  reach  them,  the  hills 
of  Guanabacoa  disclose  a  prospect  which 
roused  the  enthusiasm  even  of  the  firm  and. 
patriotic  New  Yorker,  whose  pleasant  com- 
pany made  more  pleasant  my  first  visit  to 
the  spot,  and  who  loved  the  magnificent 
harbor  of  his  own  city,  as  warmly  and  as 
wisely  as  its  glorious  loveliness  deserves. 
The  Cerro  is  a  suburb  nearer  the  city,  and 
full  of  villas.  In  the  soft  evening  light,  the 
drive  thither  is  delicious ;  the  landscape 
quite  East  Indian  in  character,  made  up  of 
houses  with  overhanging  eaves,  groves  of 
palm-trees,  Brahminee  bulls,  such  as  lord  it 
over  Benares,  and  Chinese  coolies.  The 
villas,  quintas  they  are  called  here,  are  built 
in  a  large  palatial  style  of  architecture,  with 
charming  gardens,  and  as  you  go  sway- 
ing along  in  your  volante,  ever  and  anon 
sweeping  views  break  on  you  of  the  rich 
exuberantly  verdant  country,  of  the  for- 
tress-crowned heights,  and  of  the  blue  trem- 
bling of  the  distant  ocean.  Not  less  deli- 
cious is  it  in  the  hot  noon,  when  all  the  city 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  61 


dozes,  to  take  shelter  in  your  shaded  vo- 
lante  from  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun,  and, 
driving  off  at  a  pace  which  quickens  the 
air  into  a  breeze,  to  seek  the  refreshing 
green  of  the  quinta  gardens.  The  nobles 
to  whom  most  of  these  gardens  belong, 
courteously  throw  them  open  to  the  public. 
The  gardens  are  much  neglected,  but  open- 
handed  nature  lavishes  her  savage  beauty 
upon  them.  Gorgeous  flowers,  fruit-trees 
like  the  zapote  and  the  aguacate,  that  rival 
shade  trees  in  their  size  and  their  masses  of 
foliage,  sublime  palm  avenues,  these  and 
the  pleasant  air  make  a  morning's  ramble  in 
these  places  one  of  the  most  agreeable  feat- 
ures of  Havana  life.  The  queer  old  negro 
gardener  of  the  Quinta  de  Palatino,  hob- 
bling through  "the  crisped  shades  and 
bowers,"  with  his  sweet  burden  of  clustering 
flowers,  is  a  pleasant  figure  in  the  memory 
of  many  a  Northern  heart.  I  can  but  hint 
at  the  charms  of  that  free  and  genial  hospi- 
tality which  has  made  the  name  of  the 
Cerro  musical  in  many  ears.  Stately 
ceyba  of  the  Bishop's  garden,  long  may 
6 


62  GAN-EDEN. 

thy  lordly  benediction  welcome  companies 
as  courteous  and  as  gay,  as  those  with 
whom  I  wiled  away  the  careless  hours 
about  the  buttressed  majesty  of  thy  co- 
lossal trunk !  Towering  palms  of  Palatino, 
may  the  smiles  of  Heaven  never  fail  upon 
your  sweeping  leaves,  the  smiles  of  glad- 
dened human  hearts  beneath  your  grace- 
ful arches ! 

There  are  fine  drives,  too,  owf'to  Puontrs 
Grandes,  or  the  "  High  Bridge,'v  where  the 
green  Almendares,  the  Guadalquiver  of  the 
Havana  poets,  glides  under  the  hanging 
groves,  and  past  the  sentimental  canas 
Iravas  of  lordly  grounds,  so  stealthily  you 
see  not  its  swiftness,  till  its  seaward  course 
is  impeded,  and  its  speed  betrayed  by  a 
ledge  of  rocks,  over  which  it  leaps  angrily 
enough  in  a  series  of  small  cascades ;  or  to 
the  tangled,  treacherous  mangroves  of  the 
Chorera,  where  the  same  Almendares  slips 
quietly  out  into  the  Gulf.  And  lovely  is 
the  row  by  moonlight  across  the  landlocked 
bay,  dotted  all  over  by  the  stately  forms 
of  ships  sleeping  on  the  tide ! 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  63 

But  perhaps  the  finest  excursions  around 
Havana,  are  to  be  made  to  the  different 
fortresses.  The  city  is  excellently  fortified, 
particularly  on  the  seaward  side.  The 
Morro  Castle  and  the  Cabanas,  if  properly 
manned  and  armed,  might  defy  the  largest 
fleet,  so,  narrow  is  the  entrance  to  the  har- 
bor, and  so  commanding  is  their  position. 
When  th3  jCnglish  took  Havana  in  1762, 
they  laucle^tlieir  troops  at  two  points,  east 
ana  west  of  the  city.  At  one  of  these  points 
an  insignificant  fortification,  called  the  Eng- 
lish fort,  is  still  standing  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Cogimar  river.  Since  that  time  the  ad- 
ditional forts  of  Principe  and  Atares  have 
been  erected,  so  that  Havana  has  become 
more  defensible  against  land  attacks.  But 
none  of  these  fortresses  are  adequately  gar- 
risoned, nor  can  they  possibly  be  so  with  the 
force  which  Spain  usually  maintains  in  the 
Island.  When  the  troops  were  sent  from 
Havana  to  fight  the  battle  of  Las  Pozas, 
the  fortresses  were  left  in  so  unprotected  a 
state,  that  a  few  resolute  young  men  might 
have  made  themselves  masters  of  the  city. 


64  GAN-EDEN. 

I  enjoyed  very  favorable  opportunities  for 
visiting  the  great  strongholds  of  the  Morro 
and  the  Cabanas  in  company  with  Capt. 

,  a   most   amiable    and    accomplished 

officer  of  the  Spanish  army,  and  spent  two 
mornings  there  very  delightfully.  The  as- 
pect of  the  massive  wralls,  as  you  approach 
them  in  your  boat,  is  very  imposing,  and 
the  solid  masonry  wr]aich  commands  the 
winding  ascent  to  the  fortresses  is  truly 
Cyclopean.  One  wall  of  this  inclined  plane 
is  formed  by  the  solid  rocks,  and  the  pas- 
sage is  completely  commanded  by  the  em- 
brasures of  numerous  batteries.  But  it  is 
only  when  you  have  passed  the  last  of  the 
heavy  gateways,  and  traversed  the  broad 
burning  square  within,  and  mounted  the 
huge  parapets,  that  you  begin  to  appre- 
ciate fully  the  grandeur  and  extent  of  forti- 
cations  which  well  support  the  hard  earned 
fame  of  the  Spaniards  as  builders,  and  quite 
throw  into  the  shade  even  the  defences  of 
Quebec.  It  is  said  that  the  building  of  the 
Cabanas  cost  forty  millions  of  dollars,  a  sum 
which  startled  even  the  stupid  Charles  III., 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  65 

who,  on  receiving  the  account,  is  reported 
to  have  taken  up  his  spy-glass,  and  to  have 
commenced  a  careful  survey  of  the  horizon. 
On  being  asked  what  object  he  sought,  the 
King  answered  that  he  was  looking  for  the 
Cabanas,  which  he  certainly  ought  to  be 
able  to  see  at  any  distance. 

The  quarters  of  my  friend  the  Captain, 
were  low  and  by  710  means  extensive,  yet 
the  walls  are  of  such  immense  thickness 
that  they  must  be  as  cool  as  a  cavern.  A 
few  gardens,  carefully  cultivated  in  different 
parts  of  the  vast  inclosure,  and  a  marble 
monument  raised  to  commemorate  the 
"  Valor  and  Loyalty,"  of  the  brave  who  fell 
in  beating  back  Lopez  and  his  crew,  are  the 
only  ornaments  of  these  gigantic  walls. 
But  the  view  from  the  battlements  is  glori- 
ous. Far  down  below  you,  wall  beneath 
wall,  stretch  the  huge  defences,  in  the  whole 
so  lofty  that  the  stately  vessels  at  anchor  in 
the  bay  beneath,  show  like  shallops.  The 
closely  crowded,  diversified  buildings  of  the 
populous  city,  that  seemed  so  many  and  so 
great,  when  you  walked  the  narrow  streets, 
6* 


66  GAN-EDEN. 

occupy  the  smallest  space  of  the  vast  land- 
scape opened  to  your  sight ! 

Between  the  Cabanas  and  the  Morro 
Castle,  lies  an  undulating,  bare,  and  rocky 
space  of  ground,  a  sort  of  sheepwalk.  There 
are  subterranean  communications,  also,  be- 
tween the  two  fortresses.  The  entrance  to 
the  Morro  Castle,  on  the  side  of  the  Ca- 
banas, is  steep,  sudden,  and  very  striking, 
the  surrounding  ditches  deep  and  tremen- 
dous. The  fortification  itself,  is  much  less 
extensive  than  the  Cabanas,  of  which  how- 
ever it  is  practically  but  an  outwork.  Yet 
to  the  unprofessional  visitor,  the  Morro  is 
the  more  interesting  of  the  two,  from  its 
more  castellated  character,  and  Its  superb 
position.  Standing  on  the  outer  parapets, 
you  may  look  over  them  sheer  down  into 
the  sea,  which,  notwithstanding  its  great 
depth,  is  here  so  surprisingly  clear,  that 
even  from  this  great  height,  objects  may  be 
clearly  discerned  upon  the  bottom.  The 
sea-view  from  the  splendid  and  admirably 
appointed  light-house  of  the  Morro,  can 
hardly  be  surpassed. 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  67 

The  visible  armament  of  the  Morro,  like 
that  of  the  Cabanas,  is  certainly  inadequate. 
The  famous  cannon  called  the  "Twelve 
Apostles/'  are  heavy  guns,  but  they  seemed 
to  me  to  be  in  a  not  much  better  condition 
than  the  other  ecclesiastical  institutions  of 
the  Colony.  Ten  thousand  men,  at  least, 
would  be  required  to  defend  these  vast  for- 
tifications. At  no  time  during  my  stay  in 
Cuba,  was  the  Spanish  force  in  all  the 
island,  reckoned  at  more  than  13,000  men 
by  the  most  competent  judges.  Properly 
to  man  all  the  forts  around  Havana,  includ- 
ing Principe,  Atares,  La  Punta,  and  other 
lesser  defences,  not  less  than  15,000  men 
would  be  necessary.  Principe  and  Atares 
are  both  of  them  important  and  consider- 
able posts.  Atares  has  obtained  a  melan- 
choly celebrity  as  the  scene  of  the  great 
military  execution  which  followed  the  de- 
feat of  Lopez. 

A  precise  knowledge  of  the  plans  and 
outlines  of  these  fortresses  cannot  easily  be 
obtained,  for  the  Spanish  authorities  are  as 
rigidly  severe  as  the  Austrians  in  their  hos- 


68  GAN-EDEN. 

tility  to  sketch-books.  A  friend  of  mine 
was  staying  at  the  same  hotel  with  a  young 
Englishman,  one  of  the  devotees  of  Bristol- 
board,  whom  you  meet  all  over  the  world, 
putting  in  the  Pyramids  in  sepia,  touching 
up  the  Coliseum  with  burnt  sienna  and 
flake-white,  washing  over  the  vale  of  Interla- 
chen  with  a  flood  of  sap-green.  The  young 
Briton,  who  had  made  himself,  as  pleasant 
young  Britons  are  apt  to  do,  quite  the  life 
of  the  house,  sallied  out  one  morning  for  a 
dab  at  the  Bay,  but  returned  not  to  his 
dinner,  nor  yet  to  sleep,  nor  with  the  next 
morning.  The  day  wore  on,  and  as  he  did 
not  a~ppear,  some  of  his  fellow-lodgers  had 
begun  to  think  of  looking  after  him,  when  a 
messenger  arrived  to  say,  that  the  lover  of 
nature  was  lodged  in  the  Morro  Castle,  and 
had  sent  for  his  Consul  and  for  clean  linen. 
The  gallant  old  representative  of  England 
was  soon  on  the  alert,  and  discovered  that 
his  young  countryman  had  been  seen 
sketching  the  Morro  from  a  boat,  brought 
to  by  a  sentinel,  arrested,  and  by  reason  of 
his  ignorance  of  the  Spanish  tongue,  incon- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  69 

tinently  shut  up.  It  required  all  the  good 
sense  and  the  courage  of  the  Consul  to  con- 
vince the  authorities  that  the  liegeman  of 
Victoria  had  no  designs  upon  the  dominions 
of  Isabella,  although  on  the  evidence  of  the 
sketch  itself,  nobody  could  ever  have  con- 
victed its  author  of  attempting  to  portray 
the  outlines  of  the  Morro.  A  similar  inci- 
dent, terminating  more  agreeably,  occurred 
to  a  German  gentleman  quite  recently. 
The  base  of  the  hill  on  which  Atares  stands, 
is  leased  to  a  market  gardener.  Our  Ger- 
man being -in  the  neighborhood  one  day, 
was  struck  with  the  odd  appearance  of  the 
crooked  wooden  plough,  still  used  to  scratch 
up  the  rich  soil  of  Cuba.  He  had  nearly 
transferred  the  object  to  his  sketch  book, 
when  he  was  pounced  upon  by  a  corporal, 
and  led  off  into  the  presence  of  the  com- 
manding officer.  For  some  .time  all  passed 
in  dumb  show,  till  a  German  soldier  in  the 
fort  being  sent  for,  explained  the  affair. 
"  If  the  corporal  charges  me  with  sketching 
the  fortress,"  said  the  German,  "let  him 
produce  his  proofs ! "  "  The  proofs  are  here, 


70  GAN-EDEN. 

Senor ! "  cried  the  delighted  subofficer,  and 
he  exhibited  the  captured  sketch  book.  A 
single  glance  at  the  drawing  sufficed  to 
satisfy  the  commander,  who  burst  into  a  fit 
of  laughter,  dismissed  his  sagacious  subordi- 
nate with  a  reprimand,  and  invited  the 
German  to  dinner. 

These  fortresses  serve  as  prisons  for  polit- 
ical offenders,  and  there  is  rarely  a  time 
when  their  dungeons  are  unoccupied.  Be- 
yond a  doubt  men  have  been  brought  to 
trial  and  to  military  execution  within 
these  walls,  whose  fate  is  still  a  mystery  to 
their  friends '  and  families.  It  is  very  easy 
to  exaggerate  the  atrocities  committed  by 
a  despotic  government,  but  it  is  certainly 
idle  to  question  facts  which  are  involved  in 
the  very  being  of  such  a  government.  The 
traditional  Spaniard  of  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Protestant  countries,  the  legacy  of  Alva  and 
the  Inquisition,  of  the  Armada  and  the  wars 
of  the  Spanish  main,  is  indeed  an  absurd 
and  frightful  creature,  quite  out  of  nature. 
But  a  tyrannical  system  makes  tyrannical 
measures,  and  tyrannical  men.  Moreover 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  71 

what  Leigh  Hunt  somewhere  says  is  not 
unfounded,  that  the  Spanish  character  is 
less  truly  European  than  that  of  any  other 
western  people. 

The  walk  along  the  shore  beyond  the 
Morro  to  the  English  fort,  and  the  Cogi- 
mar,  is  very  interesting.  The  formation  of 
the  coast  is  singular.  The  coralline  rocks, 
broken  and  jagged,  are  in  color  very  like 
the  old  red  sandstone,  of  which  some 
English  cathedrals  are  built,  and  in  shape 
resembles  masses  of  dead  iron  such  as  are 
flung  out  of  old  furnaces,  or  the  heaps  of 
scorke  which-  encumber  the  sides  of  Etna 
and  Vesuvius.  They  are  overlaid  and 
strewn  with  innumerable  fragments  of 
coral,  exquisite  sea  fans,  and  sea  shells  often 
very  beautiful,  but  generally  much  shatter- 
ed and  worn  by  the  waves.  The  sea-view 
is  magnificent.  The  promontory  and  towers 
of  the  Morro,  conceal  the  city ;  and  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  range,  nothing  is  visible  but 
the  widening  deep  blue  waters  of  the  Gulf, 
save  when-,  a  huge  bird  goes  swaying 
through  the  air,  or  a  gallant  ship  scuds 


72  GAN-EDEN. 

along  the  horizon,  or  the  great  gold  ball  of 
the  Sun  sinks  out  of  sight  in  the  floods  of 
the  west,  impurpled  by  his  last  rays. 

Lonely,  wild,  and  solemn,  are  now  these 
rugged  beaches.  But  time  rolls  on,  and 
the  prophetic  eye  saddens  to  discern  the 
day,  when  where  the  Morro  Castle  now 
frowns  defiance  from  its  sombre  rock,  a 
huge  white  many-windowed  building  with 
broad  piazzas,  and  multitudinous  Ionic  col- 
onnades may  rear  its  ghastly  form !  Where 
the  weary  sentinel  paces  his  solitary  round, 
the  polka  will  be  then  madly  danced  by 
beardless  boys  and  brainless  girls,  to  the 
music  of  Dodsworth's  band.  The  irregular 
shores  over  which  the  searcher  after  shells 
and  stones,  now  picks  his  careful  way,  well 
beaten  into  a  capital  road,  will  mock  the 
tossing  foam  of  the  sea,  with  the  manes  of 
fast  horses  urged  to  speed  by  faster  men  in 
trotting  wagons,  and  the  summer  glory  of 
Newport  and  Nahant,  will  be  outshone 
through  all  the  winter  months,  by  the 
splendid  follies  of  the  Castle  Morro  Hotel ! 


CHAPTER   VII. 

1  To  still  retreats,  and  flowery  solitudes." 


THOMSOX. 


IT  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  get  away  from 
Havana.  There  is  a  story  that  when  Prince 
William  Henry  of  England  was  here,  as  a 
gay  midshipman  with  Rodney,  he  came  on 
shore  to  dine,  and  stayed  so  obstinately, 
that  the  Admiral  could  only  compel  his 
return  by  threatening  to  sail  without  him. 
So  mighty  are  the  charms  of  the  Creole 
hospitality.  But  there  is  another  difficulty 
in  the  way.  You  cannot  quit  Havana 
without  a  passport,  renewable  at  the  end 
of  your  journey,  and  if  you  wish  to  go 
anywhere  by  railway,  you  must  rise  in 
time  to  walk  out  of  town,  about  a  mile,  to 
the  railway  station,  before  six  o'clock,  A.  M. 
More  trains  pass  over  one  of  our  great 
northern  roads  in  a  day  than  are  run  in  a 
'  7 


74  GAN-EDEN. 

week  on  all  the  roads  of  Cuba.  Between 
Havana  and  Matanzas,  the  New  York  and 
Boston  of  the  island,  there  are  but  two 
trains  run,  one  each  way  daily,  and  those 
leave  their  respective  cities  at  6,  A.  M.  Un- 
der ihese  Circumstances,  one  cannot  but  be 
profoundly  impressed  by  the  sagacity  of  a 
regulation  which  forbids  the  volantes  to 
appear  in  the  streets  before  seven  o'clock ! 
When  I  at  last  resolved  to  see  the  interior 
of  the  island,  I  rose  by  candlelight,  took 
the  inevitable  morning  cup  of  coffee,  and 
having  put  my  portmanteau  into  a  large 
basket,  saw  the  same  shouldered  and  then 
headed  by  a  giant  African,  wrho  started  oil' 
with  it  at  a  rapid  trot,  Things  at  the 
railway  station  passed  much  as  in  America, 
for  in  Cuba  3^011  have  all  the  annoyances 
and  -none  of  the  comforts  of  despotism. 
The  cars  had  a  familiar  look,  having  been 
built  in  those  long  port-holed  edifices,  which, 
when  transfigured  by  distance  and  the  sun- 
set light,  seem  to  the  romantic  traveller 
over  the  West  Boston  bridge,  quite  as  pic- 
turesque as  the  barracks  of  Naples,  or  the 


PICTURES   OF   CUBA.  75 


palaces  of  Portici.  We  ran  —  no,  we  mov- 
ed at  a  calm,  dignified  pace,  through  a  beau- 
tiful country,  fertile  and .  well-tilled,  past 
orchards  of  fine  fruit-tr,ees,  among  which 
the  dark  glistening  leaves  and  shining 
globes,  the  "golden  lamps  in  a  green 
night"  of  the  orange,  and  the  conical, 
dwarfish  proportions  of  the  pine-apple  were 
best  known  to  me,  on  to  the  station  of  San 
Felipe,  a  sort  of  Grand  Junction,  where  we 
made  a  halt,  and  were  regaled  with  all 
manner  of  fruits,  the  oranges  being  by  far  «  m 
the  best  I  had  tasted  in  the  island.  Beyond 
San  Felipe,  groves  of  the  bushy-tapped 
cocoa-palm,  andhcdges  of  the  plumy  beau- 
tiful bamboo  apPRired.  We  reached  at  last 
the  Almacen  of  Ba|rfteno,  a  pla*ce  half  bil- 
liard room  and  hafiWosacla,  and  there,  at 
the  end  of  an  immensely  long  pier,  lay  a 
great,  white,  neat  Yankee-looking  steamer, 
the  General  Concha,  the  pride  of  the 
Southern  coast.  I  afflicted  five  gentlemen 
in  shirt  sleeves,  by  declining  their  several  in- 
vitations to  eat  up  their  savory  breakfast 
of  beefsteaks,  which  had  been  first  stewed 


76  GAN-EDEN. 

with  garlic,  and  then  fried  in  butter ;  criti- 
cally examined  an  interesting  series  of 
highly- colored  prints  representing  the  con- 
quest of  Mexico,  as  well  as  authentic  por- 
traits of  five  European  sovereigns,  of  Gene- 
ral Jose  de  la  Concha,  and  of  a  heroic  Ser- 
geant of  Lancers,  who  fell  valiantly  at  Las 
Pozas,  after  transfixing  fourteen  of  the 
"pirates  and  robbers;"  and  accurately  sur- 
veyed the  upper  and  lower  decks  of  the 
handsome  steamer,  consuming  in  this  way 
about  two  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
our  worthy  little  Captain  "concluded  to 
start£  We  steamed  off  into  a  perfectly 
calm  tropical  sea.  The  deck  was  crowded 
with  Monteros  in  their  huge  cloaks,  silver- 
hilted  swords,  an^jAeerskin  shoes,  who 
stalked  loftily  abou^Winong  the  wretched 
groups  of  hospital  patients,  numbers  of 
whom  are  yearly  sent  by  a  truly  benevo- 
lent society  of  Havana,  to  the  medicinal 
baths  of  San  Diego.  The  cabin  was  filled 
with  passengers  of  a  higher  and  undis- 
tinguished grade,  whose  cigars  and  expecto- 
rations conspired,  with  the  whole  aspect  of 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  77 

the  vessel  and  her  decorations,  to  make  me 
feel  quite  at  home.  The  berths  alone  were 
novel.  These,  instead  of  any  mattress  or 
sheet,  revealed  nothing  but  a  stout  piece  of 
admirably  tanned  brown  hide,  stretched 
along  the  bottom,  and  furnishing  a  cool 
and  elastic  couch  perfectly  adapted  to  the 
climate.  After  dinner,  a  Spanish  dinner, 
served  with  gravity,  and  discussed  with 
a  composure  and  goodbreeding  which  I 
am  sorry  to  say  did  not  remind  me  of  simi- 
lar scenes  at  home,  we  walked  the  deck, 
the  little  old  Captain  and  myself,  till  sun- 
set, admiring  the  fine  outline  of  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Vuelta  Abajo,  which  we  kept 
in  sight  all  tlj^afternoon.  At  dark  the 
gambling  began.  The  Spaniards  play  con- 
stantly, but  with  moiwation,  and  the  game 
of  Monte  was  carried  on  by  the  majority 
of  the  passengers  all  the  evening  with  no 
noise,  and  in  a  solemn  good-humored  way. 
But  moonlight  against  Monte,  I  went*  on 
deek.  The  night  was  unspeakably  beauti- 
ful. The  Isla  de  Pinos,  ancient  haunt  of 
pirates,  lay  dusky  and  dim  on  the  South- 
7* 


78  GAN-EDEN. 

ern  horizon,  quiet  was  in  the  air  and  on 
the  sea,  no  sail  in  sight.  Swiftly,  almost 
stealthily,  we  glided  over  the  tranquil 
waters,  the  shining  treacherous  waters,  so 
often  cloven  by  the  keels  of  fierce  and  cruel 
robbers.  That  sense  of  something  evil  in 
the  air,  which  haunts  the  heart  at  Naples, 
came  upon  me.  The  divine  South  is  full  of 
sadness.  But  the  feeling  of  which  I  speak, 
is  like  the  shudder  of  life  at  the  touch  of 
Death.  Then,  this  delicious  beauty,  warm, 
glowing,  luxurious,  seems  to  us  a  Lamia,  a 
Melusina ;  the  woman  vanishes,  the  loathly 
serpent  chills  us  with  her  clammy,  poison- 
ous coil.  Is  it  because,  as  Landor  says,  "  The 
heart  is  hardest  in  the  sfl(bt  climes,"  and 
these  lovely  lands  fire  charged  with  a 
weight  of  frightful  nHnories  ?  Or  must  we 
not  look  more  deeply,  into  the  very  consti- 
tution of  our  natures?  In  the  tropics  all 
lower  life,  the  life  of  vegetables,  the  phys- 
ical life  of  animals,  nay,  of  man  himself, 
flourishes,  the  life  of  the  affections  and  the 
intellect,  the  life  of  the  kingly  passions  in 
man  alone  degenerates.  There  is  the 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  79 

realm  of  matter.  The  elements  are  in 
alliance  with  our  bodies.  The  throne  of 
the  high  powers  within  us  is  threatened. 
We  become  suddenly  conscious  of  the  possi- 
ble divorce  between  the  spirit  and  the  flesh. 
Our  dream  of  the  Fountain  of  Youth 
grows  sensual,  and  the  spirit  trembles  for 
its  dominion.  Whatever  be  their  source, 
such  feelings  were  crowding  on  me,  when 
a  new  direction  was  given  to  my  mind  by 
the  sudden  stoppage  of  our  steamer.  We 
had  stuck  fast  in  the  fango,  Anglice  mud, 
for  the  shores  of  this  part  of  the  coast  shoal 
out  very  gradually  into  the  sea.  This  Mis- 
sissippian  feature  in  my  sea-voyage  I  had 
not  anticipate^  Our  little  Captain  came 
aft  and  told  us  it  was  "quite  uncertain" 
when  we  should  get  off  again ;  the  engine 
was  stopped,  and  the  passengers  as  com- 
posedly as  if  they  expected  to  remain  sta- 
tionary till  the  summer  rains  should  fall, 
gathered  about  the  tables  in  the  saloon, 
without  one  exclamation  of  impatience  or 
dissatisfaction,  and  began  to  play  Monte 
more  assiduously  than  before.  Finding 


80  GAN-EDEN. 

that  all  the  berths  had  been  taken  during 
our  stay  at  Batabano,  I  was  preparing  to 
"  turn  in"  upon  a  sofa,  when  a  young  Span- 
iard carne  up  to  me,  and  insisted  on  my 
taking  his  place.  I  was  a  foreigner,  he 
said,  and  he,  though  not  a  native,  yet  a  resi- 
dent of  the  island,  and  if  I  would  not  take 
his  berth,  nobody  should  occupy  it.  Famil- 
iar as  I  had  already  become  with  the  grace- 
ful courtesy  of  his  people,  this  self-sacrific- 
ing politeness  seemed  to  me  extraordinary. 
At  home  I  fear  I  should  have  distrusted  it, 
which  is  hardly  a  compliment  to  our  own 
race.  But  there  was  no  doubting  the  sin- 
cerity and  disinterestedness  of  this  young 
Castilian. 

Whatever  may  be  the  charms  of  the 
game  of  Monte  to  the  players,  it  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  soothing  of  games  to  the 
spectators.  It  consists  apparently  in  a 
monotonous  iteration  of  numerals.  "  Sesen- 
ta-cuatror  Veinte-dos,"  and  the  like,  mur- 
mured in  the  slow  drawling  fashion  of  the 
island,  are  a  most  effectual  lullaby. 

We  did  move  on  again  at  last,  and  reach- 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  81 

ed  La  Columa  about  4,  A.  M.    There  I  found 

the  calesero  of  my  friend waiting  for 

me  with  a  volant  e,  at  a  large,  rambling, 
nondescript  establishment,  which  appears  as 
a  village  on  the  maps.  A  jaunty  grey- 
headed old  Creole  with  small,  twinkling,  dis- 
agreeable eyes  came  up  to  me  here,  flour- 
ishing a  gold-headed  cane  of  that  flexible 
animal  fibre  so  much  prized  in  Cuba,  and 

assuring  me  that  Don was  his  bosom 

friend,  very  obligingly  offered  to  take  a 
seat  with  me  as  far  as  our  roads  should  lie 
together.  I  had  no  objection  to  make,  and 
after  taking  some  excessively  bad  coffee, 
we  set  off,  in  company  with  several  meek- 
looking  persons,  apparently  armed  to  the 
teeth.  The  road  was  wonderful !  Now  up, 
now  down,  now  plunging  up  to  the  horse's 
girths  in  a  small  river,  now  running  tilted 
at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  along  a  sand- 
bank, and  always  at  full  speed.  If  the  led 
horse  lagged,  the  calesero  hauled  him  along 
like  a  pig ;  if  the  saddle-horse  flinched,  the 
calesero  boxed  his  ears.  Riding  like  a  cen- 
taur, he  flung  horses  and  volante  down  gul- 


82  GAN-EDEN. 

lies,  and  jerked  them  up  hills  with  a  seem- 
ing recklessness,  which  at  first  made  me 
uneasy.  But  as  my  companion  seemed  tc 
think  it  all  right,  I  tried  to  fall  into  the 
same  state  of  mind,  and  entered  into  con- 
versation with  him. 

The  road  for  the  whole  way  ran  through 
a  savanna,  a  sort  of  tropical  Cape  Cod,  with 
palm-trees  instead  of  stunted  oaks,  and  tall 
pine-trees  springing  out  of  the  weedy 
ground.  My  companion  expatiated  on  the 
waste  of  these  lands,  the  uselessness  of  the 
pine-trees,  (that  might  be  so  profitable,)  and 
the  miserable  government  to  which  these 
things,  and  all  the  other  short-comings  of 
Cuba  were  to  be  attributed.  He  was  evi- 
dently a  malecontent  of  the  first  water,  but 
he  looked  for  deliverance  only  to  foreign 
arms,  and  inquired  anxiously  into  the 
chances  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain.  This  unmanly  tone  thorough- 
ly disgusted  me,  and  I  thought  of  astonish- 
ing him  with  Sir  William  Jones's  Ode,  just 
as  we  used  to  declaim  it  at  Cambridge,  but 
.contented  myself  with  sundry  suggestions 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  83 

as  to  the  importance  of  preparing  the  island 
to  hold  her  own,  before  inviting  strangers 
to  set  her  free.  I  did  not,  however,  say 
what  I  could  not  but  think,  that  these  vast 
unoccupied  tobacco-lands  of  the  Vuelta 
Abajo  would  certainly  tempt  hither  swarms 
of  settlers  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky, 
whose  presence  and  enterprise  would  soon 
awaken  in  the  Creole  mind  longing  memo- 
ries of  the  "  good  old  royal  days."  When 
my  companion  became  confidential,  and 
began  to  talk  of  his  own  affairs,  his  remarks 
were  rather  shocking.  My  Mediterranean 
experience  had  made  me  tolerably  familiar 
with  the  singular  skill  in  blasphemy  of  the 
Southern  nations,  but  I  was  hardly  prepar- 
ed to  hear  from  living  lips,  an  improvement 
upon  Dante's  most  audacious  imagination. 
"My  wife  died  last  year,"  said  my  com- 
panion, "  my  sister  died  six  months  ago,  my 
wife's  mother  and  my  daughter  have  just 
died ;  now  I  should  like  to  see  what  God 
up  yonder  can  do  next !  I  defy  him,  and 
he  may  come  on  if  he  dares!" 

Three  hours  brought  us  to  an  Almacen, 


GAN-EDEN. 

or  "country-store,"  where  this  pious  and 
patriotic  gentleman  alighted.  During  the 
journey,  he  had  taken  occasion  to  offer  me 
his  cane,  a  blow  of  which,  he  said,  would 
inflict  a  wound  like  a  sword-cut,  and  his 
watch;  now,  on  parting,  he  assured  me 
that  I  was  the  proprietor  of  his  house  and 
estate,  and  begged  me  soon  to  come  and 
take  possession  of  them. 

In  a  few  minutes,  my  volante,  as  its 
name  imports,  was  "flying"  through  the 
rustic  gateway,  guarded  by  a  white  headed 
old  African,  naked  as  a  native  on  the  Coast 
of  Congo,  into  the  extensive  pasture-lands 
of  Don 's  plantation.  Then  past  palm- 
trees  and  mango  thickets,  giant  ceybas 
and  gnarled  parasites,  by  grazing  herds  of 
oxen  and  scattered  mules,  over  fields  that 
glowed  with  flowers  of  every  hue,  we  dash- 
ed on  up  to  the  low,  broad  stone  house  of 
one  story,  with  steep  red-tiled  roof,  and 
dark  green  verandahs. 

Great  dogs  rushed  out  with  most  ambigu- 
ous barking,  to  welcome  me,  and,  presently, 
with  lounging  graceful  step,  my  friend 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  85 

emerged,  and  I  was  instantly  at  home  in 
this  strange  world. 

I  told that  his  bosom   friend   had 

favored  ine  with  his  society,  and  described 
the  individual  as  accurately  as  possible. 
"  Friend ! "  cried laughing.  "  The  ras- 
cal is  one  of  the  most  respectable  men,  and 
greatest  scamps  in  this  scampish  district. 
He  insulted  one  of  my  men  last  week,  and 
has  cheated  me  as  often  as  he  possibly 
could!  Moreover  he  carried  you  half  a 
mile  out  of  your  way ! " 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

'  A  pleasing  land  of  drowsyhead  it  was." 


THOMSON. 


"NoN  unus  mentes  agitat  furor,"  all 
men  are  not  mad  in  the  same  way,  says 
Juvenal,  speaking  of  traffickers  by  sea. 
Perhaps  like  Ulysses  and  myself,  Juvenal 
was  "semper  nauseator,"  in  which  case, 
hawking  wares  over  the  water  might  rea- 
sonably have  appeared  to  him  quite  lunat- 
ical ;  and  I  am  sure  that  if  the  coin  of  the 
realm  seemed  to  him  an  insufficient  induce- 
ment to  a  Levant  voyage,  it  never  would 
have  satisfied  him  as  the  plea  of  a  man 
who  should  devote  himself  to  a  life  on  a 
sugar-estate  in  the  Western  Vuelta  Abajo. 
As  the  only  large  sugar-planter  in  a  popu- 
lous district,  my  friend enjoys  a  ready 

sale  of  his  products  on  the  spot,  and  as  he 
does  not  export,  is  not  obliged  to  adopt  the 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  87 

costly  French  machinery  in  use  on  the 
northern  coast.  But  the  same  causes 
which  make  his  position  peculiarly  profit- 
able, deprive  him  of  society.  He  lives  in 
a  practical  exile,  relieved  by  occasional 
trips  to  the  States.  Once  he  said  to  me, 
"Nothing  pleasant  ever  chances  here,  and 
the  best  news  I  can  have  in  the  morning  is 
no  news."  Such  persons  as  my  friend  and 
his  family,  it  is  true,  can  never  be  without 
the  best  company  in  the  world,  in  their 
own  thoughts  and  feelings.  But  the  best 
of  us  need  at  least  occasional  intercourse 
with  our  fellows.  And  this  protracted  se- 
clusion from  the  busy  world  must  wear 
upon  the  most  genial  spirits. 

Yet,  to  the  casual  guest,  how  delicious  is 
the  careless  monotony  of  such  a  seques- 
tered existence !  The  climate  of  this  re- 
gion is  far  finer  than  that  of  Havana.  In- 
valids come  to  the  Vuelta  Abajo  from 
other  parts  of  the  island,  and  the  diseases 
which  ravage  the  northern  coast,  rarely 
wander  here. 

Nor  are  the  heavens  more   bland  than 


88  GAN-EDEN. 

the  temper  of  my  Southern  home.  No- 
body is  in  anybody's  else  way.  We  live 
like  the  Thelemites  of  Rabelais.  All  our 
moments  are  employed  "selon  notre  vou- 
loir  et  franc  arbitre.  Notre  regie  n'est  que 
cette  clause,  Fais  ce  que  voudras!"  The 
early  morning  here  is  truly  divine,  having 
gold  in  its  hands,  as  the  Germans  say,  and 
things  better  than  gold,  beauty  glittering 
dewy-bright  on  every  leaf  and  blade  of  all 
this  leafy  world,  and  softest  breezes  breath- 
ing health !  When  you  weary  of  lounging 
in  the  broad  piazza,  to  sketch  the  graceful 
palm-trees  that  surround  the  house,  or  the 
long-eared,  browsing  mules,  you  may  stroll 
out  across  the  flowery  fields,  to  yonder  vast, 
low  sugar-house.  You  have  been  watching 
the  soft  wreaths  of  smoke  curl  lazily  about 
its  lofty  chimney,  the  only  moving  things 
in  all  the  sleeping  landscape,  for  half  an 
hour,  while  your  hand  has  been  dallying 
dreamily  with  your  idle  pencil.  The  great, 
red-tiled  shed  of  the  mill  is  full  to  the  top 
of  the  cut  and  bundled  canes,  and  the  fat 
old  Spanish  sugar-master  (who  eats  five 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  89 

meals  a  day,  and  dreams  every  night  he  is 
dying  of  hunger,)  is  nearly  beside  himself 
with  fear,  lest  his  enemy  the  mayoral 
should  have  succeeded  this  time  in  hurting 
him  with  his  employer,  by  giving  him  more 
juice  than  he  can  work  up  in  his  allotted 
half  of  the  week.  So  all  the  departments 
are  in  full  activity.  Wild-looking,  half-na- 
ked hordes  of  negroes,  many  of  them  roaring 
out  jokes  to  each  other  in  savage  dialects 
of  the  African  coast,  tramp  up  and  down 
the  platform  of  the  mill,  thrusting  armfuls 
of  the  canes  between  the  ponderous  rollers 
of  the  crushing  machine;  and  there  is  no 
pause  in  the  flowing  of  the  milky  stream  of 
cane-juice,  which,  plunging  in  a  small  cata- 
ract from  beneath  the  rollers,  runs  swiftly 
through  canals  of  cloven  palm-trunks  to  the 
vats  of  the  neighboring  purging  house. 
There  is  the  heart  of  this  small  kingdom. 
Beneath,  huge  furnaces  glow  with  the 
fiercely  burning  fuel  of  the  dried  canestalks. 
Above,  the  juice,  transferred  from  boiler  to 
boiler,  endures  all  manner  of  transforma- 
tions, simmering  here,  foaming  there,  here 


90  GAN-EDEN. 

moody  and  sluggish,  a  brown  and  turbid 
pool,  there  tossing  and  bubbling,  an  un- 
easy sea  of  liquid  gold,  sending  up  its 
wholesome  vapors  in  dense  white  wreaths ; 
now  beaten  into  a  perfect  syllabub  by  stal- 
wart negroes,  with  long  paddles  made  of 
aloes-wood,  and  anon  ladled  out,  in  like 
manner,  into  a  trench  with  lofty  sides, 
wherein  it  is  stirred,  and  flung  aloft  in 
beautiful  showers  tinted  with  the  softest 
browns,  crystallizing  slowly  as  it  foils  and 
cools.  Sugar  is  in  the  air,  the  ground  is  yel- 
low with  sugar,  the  walls  glitter  with  small 
crystals  of  sugar,  the  dogs  lap  up  the  sugar 
from  the  shallow  pans,  the  little  naked 
negroes  tumbling  about  the  door-ways,  are 
crusted  over  with  sugar;  you  have  found 
life's  clumsy  realization  of  childhood's  sump- 
tuous dreams.  Thus  the  world  mimics 
Snowdrop's  forest  home. 

But  the  sun  rides  high,  and  we  draw 
into  the  broad  piazza  our  deep,  backward 
sloping  Spanish  chairs,  chairs  into  which  a 
tired  man  sinks  as  easily  as  a  sinner  into 
sin.  Far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  we  see 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  91 

nothing  but  June ;  June  flowering  over  all 
the  fields,  June  in  the  deep  blue  of  the 
cloudless  skies.  The  great,  low  red  roofs 
of  the  distant  sugar-houses  glow  in  the 
warm  sunlight.  The  gentle  breeze  which 
stirs  the  air  about  us  here,  is  just  strong 
enough  to  awaken  the  crisp  rustle  of  the 
drooping  palm-leaves,  and  does  not  seem  to 
shake  the  heavy  foliage  of  yonder  magnifi- 
cent ceybas.  Just  opposite,  rises  a  huge 
forest  trunk  completely  mastered  and  ap- 
propriated by  the  deadly  parasite,  the 
jaquey-macho,  whose  closely  set,  shining 
dark-green  leaves,  with  their  irregular  out- 
line, look  as  if  they  were  embroidered  up- 
on the  soft  sky.  Great  crows  fly  chatter- 
ing about  the  broad  savanna,  the  bright 
hues  of  parrots  and  paroquets  glance  in  the 
light,  and  countless  pine-linnets  wheel  about 
the  trees,  keeping  up  a  continual  delicate 
singing.  The  hills  to  the  north  have  put 
on  their  noonday  purple ;  and  to  the  south, 
the  bright  yellow-green  of  the  canefields 
makes  merry  the  horizon.  Through  the 
amber-colored  heaps  of  bagasso,  the  crushed 


92  GAN-EDEN. 

canes  drying  in  the  sun,  a  swart  African 
woman  makes  her  way,  balancing  a  water 
jar  upon  her  head.  The  tinkling  of  the 
mule-bells  grows  fainter  and  fainter,  as  the 
long  train  of  laden  mules  winds  slowly  on- 
ward into  the  wood  beyond  those  swaying 
palm-trees. 

Trouble  not  your  brain  with  studious 
plans,  for  this  conspiracy  of  idleness  will 
surely  defeat  them  all !  Your  indolence  is 
indeed  an  indolence  of  incessant  thoughts, 
but  of  thoughts  that  glide  from  the  grasp 
of  your  will.  They  flow  through  your 
mind  like  the  sap  of  life  through  every 
vein  of  this  wonderful  vegetable  world 
around  you.  You  are  roused  at  last,  only 
by  the  gathering  sadness  which  this  still 
stream  has  borne  into  your  soul. 

As  day  after  day  rolls  on,  the  isolation 
and  the  quiet  of  this  life  begin  to  close 
around  you.  The  Thebaid  and  the  Cloister 
become  intelligible.  Sometimes  you  are 
conscious  of  a  feeling;  such  as  may  have 
dimly  glowed  in  the  mind  of  an  antedilu- 
vian toad,  when  the  cavity  of  his  refuge 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  "93 

began  to  narrow,  and  the  cell  to  form,  in 
which,  for  a  thousand  years,  he  was  to  be 
shut  out  from  the  sedges  and  the  green 
ponds. 

Then  you  are  grateful  for  the  stirring 
talk  of  "states  and  wars,"  and  the  game 
thereto  congenial,  of  time-honored  English 
whist,  whereby  your  kind  friend  draws  you 
back  to  modern  and  expansive  life. 

You  resolve  to  botanize,  and  find  that 
you  have  spent  the  morning  at  the  foot  of 
a  colossal  ceyba,  niched  between  two  of  the 
broad  buttresses  that  spring  fro-m  its  mas- 
sive trunk,  and  watching  the  sports  of  the 
negro  children  in  the  field,  or  the  diversi- 
fied forms  of  viciousness  displayed  by  the 
mules,  grandiloquent  Pindar's  "  children  of 
the  tempest-footed  steeds,"  in  their  war  of 
independence  with  the  sullen  arriero  their 
tyrant.  ^••*~- 

In  the  afternoon rides  with  you  to 

the  tobacco-farm,  beautiful  with  the  intense 
verdure  of  the  broad-leaved  plants,  or  down 
through  the  guava  groves  to  give  the  re- 
luctant bloodhounds  a  swim  in  the  little 


94  GAN-EUEN. 

Laguna  de  San  Matteo,  or  over  to  the 
neighboring  town,  the  capital  of  cock- 
fights, balls,  and  lawsuits,  for  all  the  coun- 
try round.  It  is  a  queer,  dirty  town,  the 
chef-lieu  of  a  department,  containing  1,000 
inhabitants,  and  maintaining  30  shops, 
where,  by  a  simple  process  of  alchemy,  the 
tobacco  of  the  Vuelta  Abajo  is  converted 
into  building  materials  for  substantial  cas- 
tles in  Spain.  In  this  town  a  Lieutenant- 
Go  vernor  holds  his  court ;  there  many  law- 
yers congregate,  and  in  the  barracks  a 
thousand  troops  are  stationed.  If  we  go 
there  by  day,  we  see  only  a  few  dark  eyes 
and  dirty  faces  staring  at  our  volante, 
through  the  iron  bars  of  the  low  houses, 
unless  it  be  a  festival,  when  the  cockpit  is 
filled  with  a  crowd  which,  like  all  village 
crowds,  comes  one  knows  not  whence, 
and  disappears  when  the*show  is  over,  as 
mysteriously.  At  night,  the  little  town 
mocks  in  its  provincial  way,  the  greater 
capital.  The  curtains  drawn  aside  from 
the  huge  windows,  reveal  handsome  rooms 
and  menageries  of  fair  ladies  behind  the 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  95 

iron  bars.  Perhaps  we  may  make  a  call 
upon  some  village  family.  Close  shaven, 
slender,  sallow-faced  gentlemen  receive  us 
with  elaborate  courtesy ;  we  take  our  seats 
in  immense  arm-chairs,  and  commence  a 
vapid  conversation,  which  becomes  still 
more  vapid  when  the  ladies  appear.  They 
saunter  into  the  room,  very  lightly  dressed, 
and  apparently  quite  overloaded  and  op- 
pressed by  the  scanty  dress  they  wear,  sa- 
lute us  feebly,  drop  into  the  opposite  arm- 
chairs, and  begin  to  fan  themselves  very 
languidly.  The  few  and  foolish  things  they 
say  are  uttered  in  a  very  nasal  voice, 
which  sadly  vulgarizes  the  sonorous  Spanish 
tongue.  The  poor  creatures  look  as  if  life 
were  one  weary  dawdle,  and  so  I  suppose  it 
is  to  them. 

No  humane  person  can  long  endure  the 
sight  of  suffering  which  he  cannot  relieve, 
so  we  take  our  departure,  are  faintly  bid- 
den "  go  in  a  good  hour,"  and  drive  up  to 
the  Plaza,  an  irregular  piece  of  ground, 
decorated  with  a  preposterous  little  church, 
a  parti-colored  Governor's  House,  and  sun- 


96  GAN-EDEN. 

dry  huts,  hovels,  and  whitewashed  barracks. 
But  the  mingling  lights  of  the  moon  and 
of  torches,  make  the  forlorn  little  Plaza 
picturesque,  and  it  is  not  without  pleasure 
that  we  listen  to  the  military  band  playing 
"indifferent  well."  When  we  drive  home 
through  the  moonlit  gullies,  and  across  the 
wild  savanna,  stories  of  the  brigand  age 
that  used  to  be  fit  well  the  scene. 

In  this  life  we  lead,  or  which,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  leads  us,  every  change  in 
the  aspect  of  nature  is  an  event.  The 
changes  of  the  skies,  so  interesting  every- 
where, become  doubly  fascinating  here. 
The  Cuban  skies  are,  I  think,  the  most 
beautiful  I  have  ever  seen.  They  combine 
the  various  and  splendid  brilliancy  of  our 
own  skies  with  the  soft  luminousness  of  the 
European.  The  sunsets  are  startling.  Twi- 
light belongs  to  the  lands  of  the  imagina- 
tion. Here  we  pass  in  a  moment  from 
darkness  to  day,  and  from  the  sunshine 
into  starlight,  just  as  one  moment's  breath- 
less silence  takes  you  from  the  glowing 
magnificence  of  the  Bay  of  Naples,  into  the 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  97 

moonlight-blue  of  the  Grotto  of  Capri. 
There  is  no 

"  Gathering  up  the  golden  reins, 
And  pacing  leisurely  down  amber  plains ; " 

only  one  broad  sweeping  gush  of  western 
light,  and  then  the  purple  drops  suddenly 
over  all,  and  the  innumerable  stars  are 
glittering  larger  and  brighter  than  ours. 

Sometimes  the  evening  is  made  more 
beautiful  by  a  fire  in  the  savanna,  a  sight 
not  uncommon  in  this  region,  and  unpleas- 
ant to  the  dwellers  in  the  land,  only  when 
it  threatens  a  canefield  in  its  course.  One 
evening,  while  watching  the  shadows  of  the 
trees,  and  tree-like  vines  in  the  lake,  and 
the  play  of  the  graceful  dogs  on  the  shore, 
I  heard  a  rushing  sound  like  the  beating  of 
many  wings  upon  the  air,  and  looking  in 
the  direction  whence  it  came,  saw  clouds  of 
light  blue  smoke  rolling  slowly  up  against 
the  sky.  In  a  few  moments  the  southern 
sky  was  stained  all  over  in  black  and  gold, 
with  the  thick  smoke  and  leaping  flames. 
We  hurried  to  the  house,  and  turning  on 
'9 


98  GAN-EDEN. 

the  hill,  saw  a  broad  sheet  of  waving  flame 
running  all  along  the  southern  border  of 
the  lake  and  reflected  in  the  still  water. 
More  and  more  intense  grew  the  conflagra- 
tion, till  it  reddened  the  dark-purple  sky, 
and  put  out  the  stars  above  its  path  with 
its  fiery  glow.  The  graceful  or  fantastic 
shapes  of  the  trees  stood  out  finely  from 
this  wild  background,  and  from  time  to 
time  a  fresh  gleam  of  flame,  seen  through 
the  interstices  of  the  thick  low  chapparal, 
would  flash  like  the  heart  of  a  carbuncle. 

The  most  gorgeous  atmospheric  pageant 
of  the  tropics,  the  thundershower,  can  only 
be  seen  in  perfection  during  the  summer 
months.  Yet  we  had  one  shower  which, 
though  not  of  the  first  ^valer,  was  very  fine 
in  the  eyes  of  an  inexperienced  Northerner. 
I  had  never  seen  clouds  so  dense  and  black 
as  were  gathered  in  the  south,  while  in  the 
west  the  blue  sky  still  glittered  with  the 
sun.  The  rain  began  with  a  few  drops, 
large  as  bullets,  falling  slowly,  then  came 
the  whole  mass  of  water,  beating  down 
every  thing,  and  forming  in  a  few  moments. 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  99 

under  my  windows,  a  depression  in  the 
earth  two  or  three  inches  deep.  With  the 
rain  came  tremendous  peals  of  thunder, 
scaring  the  fierce  hounds,  and  lightning 
brighter  than  molten  iron.  The  air  was 
full  of  electricity.  I  took  up  a  pair  of 
scissors,  and  received  a  smart  shock.  With 
the  lull  in  the  rain,  there  appeared  from 
north  to  south,  across  the  eastern  sky,  a 
magnificent  rainbow,  the  arch  complete,  as^ 
if  seen  over  the  ocean,  only  the  southern 
end  dipped  through  the  glistening  foliage  of 
a  superb  ceyba,  before  it  disappeared  in  the 
beryl-bright  waves  of  the  canefields.  And 
over  all  the  landscape  such  a  flood  of  light ! 
the  mellow  light  of  October,  bathing  every 
leaf  and  blade  of  refreshed  and  sparkling 
nature.  Then  shifting  through  a  myriad 
"changes  of  hue  and  form,  the  cloud-racks 
broke  up,  and  slowly  wandered  off  along 
the  burnished  sky.  The  distant  mountains 
glowed  amethystine,  like  the  Apennines  at 
sunset. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Adieu !  doux  et  brilliant  rivage, 

Ou  1' Stranger  reste  comme  enchain^. 

BERANGER. 

u  SEE  Naples  and  then  die,"  says  the  prov- 
erb, with  a  fine  extravagance.  One  soon 
comprehends  the  spirit  of  the  speech,  when 
the  genius  of  the  place  has  fairly  possessed 
his  senses  and  his  soul.  It  is  not  on  re- 
cord, to  be  sure,  that  anybody  ever  really 
overturned  his  cup  of  life,  simply  because 
Naples  had  filled  it  to  the  brim.  Men  and 
women  have  sung  in  serious  earnest  the 
song  of  Thekla,  but  not  for  that.  But 
Naples  so  satisfies  the  body  and  the  brain 
with  a  glowing  sensuous  beauty  immanent 
in  the  air,  the  skies,  the  landscape,  and  the 
sea,  that  one  finds  the  proverb  rising  to  his 
lips,  laughs  at  the  ciceroni,  is  glad  of  no 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  101 

guidebook,  cares  not  to  see  a  single  sight, 
and,  for  long  days,  dreams  wide  awake  in 
the  balcony  of  his  hotel,  finding  the  true 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  in  the  visions 
which  the  blue  smoke-wreath  of  far  Vesu- 
vius is  hourly  weaving,  the  Roman  with  his 
fierce  luxury,  the  Greek  with  his  voluptu- 
ous grace,  in  Capri's  stately  cloud,  and  soft 
Sorrento's  sunlit  height. 

The  life  of  this  tropic  "Castle  of  Indo- 
lence," is  more  dreamy  than  the  dream  of 
Naples.  Thoughts  vanish  like  vapors  in 
this  warm  sunlight,  and  the  mind  is  cloud- 
less as  the  skies.  Hayti  and  Jamaica  loomed 
large  upon  the  horizon  of  my  purpose  when 
I  wandered  here,  but  they  have  gone  like  a 
vision  of  sails. 

Day  after  day  has  glided  noiselessly  by. 
"  Why  should  I  seek  to  gather  up  in  scat- 
tered fragments  here  and  there,  the  Cuba 
whose  very  essence  is  held  here  in  a  golden 
cup  to  my  lips?"  Thus  I  dreamt  and  mused, 
till  the  sound  of  the  Easter  bells  rang  in 
our  ears,  and  roused  us  to  seek  the  city. 
For  this  year  the  holy  Easter  time  was  to 
9* 


102  GAN-EDEN. 

be  pompously  celebrated.  The  fighting 
bulls  of  Spain  were  to  assert  their  triumph 
over  the  pacific  bull  of  Pope  Pius  V.  by  a 
magnificent  contest  on  Easter  Sunday  in 
the  new  Plaza  de  Toros  at  Havana.  A 
(fiiadritte  of  bull-fighters  had  just  arrived, 
headed  by  one  Juan  Pastor  of  Seville, 
whose  name  has  been  consigned  to  fame 
by  Mr.  Wallis,  in  his  pleasant  book  about 
Spain. 

Every  thing  was  to  be  arranged  in  the 
true  Castilian  style,  for  the  authorities  hope 
to  galvanize  Cuba  into  loyalty  by  the  good 
old  Spanish  excitement.  So  we  set  out  one 
fine  morning  after  a  heavy  thundershower 
which  had  converted  the  shallow  trench, 
or  deep  rut,  called  a  road,  into  a  lively 
watercourse. 

A  great  part  of  this  district  is  accessible 
only  on  horseback.  The  mule  driver  with 
his  long  string  of  beasts  tied  together,  and 
depending  each  upon  the  strength  of  his 
predecessor's  tail,  is  the  great  carrier.  The 
mail  is  taken  on  horseback  from  the  con- 
siderable town  of  Pinar  del  Rio  to  Ha- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  103 

vana,  though  there  is  a  railway  and  steam- 
boat communication  nearly  all  the  way ! 
This,  however,  is  perhaps  to  give  Her  Ma- 
jesty's courier  time  to  read  at  his  leisure 
all  the  contents  of  Her  Majesty's  mails. 

The  Baths  of  San  Diego  are  the  chief 
Spa,  the  Saratoga  of  Cuba.  The  waters 
are  highly  medicinal,  and  the  river  San 
Diego,  besides  "tasting  of  warm  flatirons," 
exhibits  a  phenomenon  rarely  witnessed  in 
nature,  though  familiar  enough  in  the 
world  of  politics  and  human  feeling,  by 
running  hot,  cold,  and  lukewarm,  within 
a  very  short  career.  Numbers  of  people 
throng  to  these  baths  every  year,  and 
though  the  cabins  are  naturally  enough  as 
detestable  as  the  accommodations  at  more 
renowned  resorts  of  invalided  fashion,  one 
would  expect  to  find  the  road  thither  at 
least  passable.  But  it  is  atrociously  bad; 
as  much  more  appalling  than  a  char-a-banc 
pass  in  Switzerland,  as  earth  is  more  yield- 
ing than  rock,  and  a  smother  in  unfathom- 
able mud  more  awful  than  a  cleanly  tum- 
ble down  a  grand  ravine'  into  a  clear, 
sparkling  mountain  stream. 


104  GAN-EDEN. 

We  reached  the  Almacen  de  la  Columa 
about  ten  o'clock,  and  I  had  leisure  to  sur- 
vey the  place.  These  Spanish- American 
variety-store-warehouse-hotels,  have  pecu- 
liar features  of  their  own.  Instead  of  the 
dreary  counter,  and  the  shelves  with  their 
rows  of  sinister-looking  decanters  and  demi- 
johns, we  had  here  a  small  apartment,  very 
like  a  booth  at  a  fair,  arched  over  with  a 
painted  arch,  decorated  with  the  Spanish 
colors,  and  bearing  the  attractive  inscription 
"Las  Delicias  de  la  Columa;"  the  fitness  of 
the  title  being  apparent  on  a  glance  at  the 
shelves  of  sweetmeats,  cigars,  sardines,  cor- 
dials, and  aguardiente.  The  dispenser  of 
these  delights  was  an  olive-complexioned 
boy  of  fifteen,  with  laughing  black  eyes, 
like  those  of  Murillo's  musical  ragamuffins 
at  Dulwich.  His  deference  to  his  seniors 
was  quite  astonishing,  to  one  accustomed  to 
the  independent  and  uncompromising  style 
of  "Young  America"  in  such  positions. 

Within  the  spacious  warehouse  were  to 
be  found  all  manner  of  things,  from  codfish 
to  preserved  figs,  coarse  cloth  for  the  slaves, 
and  coarse  jewelry  for  the  Vegueras. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  105 

Above  the  storehouse  and  along  the  cor- 
ridors, were  the  rooms  of  the  "  hotel,"  occu- 
pied just  then  by  the  families  of  the  small 
planters  in  the  neighborhood,  who  had  come 
for  the  "  sea  bathing,"  that  is,  for  the  privi- 
lege of  spending  a  couple  of  hours  a  day, 
paddling  about  in  three  feet  or  so  of  salt 
mud  and  water,  within  a  space  of  twenty 
feet  by  fifteen,  under  a  heavy  covering  of 
palm  thatch. 

The  permanent  population  of  "La  Co- 
luma,"  consists  of  three  men  and  a  boy,  five 
cats,  eleven  dogs,  and  a  game-cock,  the  latter 
creature,during  his  "  piping  times  of  peace," 
being  tied  by  the  leg  4o  a  huge  hidebound 
chair  in  the  storehouse.  We  asked  the  head 
of  the  house  how  many  guests  were  staying 
with  him.  u Fifteen  ivomen"  he  replied,  "•' be- 
sides some  men  and  children,  perhaps  forty  in 
all."  The  next  "  Woman's  Rights  Conven- 
tion," ought  to  be  held  in  La  Columa,  for  it 
is  plain  that  the  male  population  of  that 
place  is  better  prepared  for  an  unconditional 
surrender  of  the  antiquated  privileges  of 
man,  than  any  other  beyond  the  borders  of 


106  GAN-EDEN. 

California  or  Australia.  We  spent  four  or 
five  hours  at  the  Almacen,  waiting,  as  usual, 
for  the  steamer,  during  which  time  the 
fifteen  females,  so  precious  in  the  eyes  of 
their  host,  came  out  into  their  saloon,  this 
same  saloon  serving  at  the  same  time  as  a 
coach-house  for  a  dusty  volante,  and  as  a 
private  dining-room  for  a  family  party,  while 
its  position  on  one  side  of  the  house,  and 
its  mural  arrangements,  —  there  being  no 
doors,  —  enabled  the  occupants  to  observe 
the  arrivals  and  departures,  and  to  enliven 
their  retirement  with  the  spectacle  of  diver- 
sified dog-fights.  The  women  were  a  yel- 
low, sickly-looking  set  of  creatures,  dressed 
in  very  bright  colors.  Their  manners  and 
customs  were  peculiarly  naive  and  uncon- 
strained. I  was  particularly  attracted  by 
one  old  lady  of  sixty,  whose  parchment  face 
reminded  me  of  Heine's  dnme  in  the  Harz 
mountains,  whose  countenance  resembled  a 
palimpsest  in  which  a  monkish'  homily  had 
been  written  over  a  Greek  love  story.  Her 
dress  still  wore  a  hue  of  youthful  folly.  She 
was  arrayed  in  scarlet  and  white  muslin, 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  107 

orange  colored  stockings,  a  blue  silk  shawl 
gorgeously  embroidered  with  large  dahlias 
and  roses  in  green  and  yellow  silk ;  a  bunch 
of  artificial  flowers  adorned  her  hair,  and 
huge  gold  ear-rings  glittered  in  her  ears. 
Thus  wonderful  in  her  appearance,  she 
glided  gracefully  into  the  storehouse,  pur- 
chased a  long  Jenny  Lind  cigar,  asked  the 
favor  of  a  light  from  a  Montero  gentleman 
in  a  striped  blue  shirt,  with  a  sword  at  his 
side,  and  silver  spurs  on  his  stockingless  feet ; 
and  then  returning  to  the  "saloon,"  while 
the  soft  smoke  curled  about  her  head,  took 
up  a  broom  and  proceeded  to  sweep  away 
the  remnants  of  the  morning's  meal.  The 
family  party  dined  in  private,  snortly  after. 
They  courteously  invited  every  one  who 
passed  by  to  take  a  seat  at  the  table,  but  as 
four  mules  were  loading  at  the  time,  one  of 
whom  liked  to  ba.ck  viciously  into  the  saloon 
every  time  his  master  caine  near  him,  we 
declined  their  invitation,  hoping  for  a  decent 
dinner  on  board  the  boat.  But  the  boat 
did  not  come,  so  that  we  were  forced  to 
dine  at  the  table  d'hote  of  the  Almacen  in 


108  GAN-EDEN. 

company  with  the  people  of  the  house,  some 
laborers,  the  crew  of  a  lighter,  and  a  dra- 
goon partially  intoxicated.  And  I  must  say 
to  the  honor  of  these  good  souls,  that  their 
manners,  though  by  no  means  elegant,  were 
vastly  more  decent,  unselfish,  and  becoming, 
than  have  been  displayed  by  much  better 
dressed  companies  at  railway  stations  and 
on  board  of  steamers  at  home.  Even  the 
drunken  dragoon  only  evinced  his  state  by 
bad  behavior  towards  the  dogs,  which  kept 
running  under  the  table.  He  kicked  at 
them,  traitorously  seduced  them  to  approach 
him,  and  then  cuffed  them  dreadfully,  and 
when  they  "  fought  shy  "  of  him,  earnestly 
adjured  "  Maria  santissima,  purissima,"  to 
interest  herself  for  their  eternal  perdition. 
This  dragoon  was  a  short  red-faced,  white- 
haired,  jaunty  fellow,  very  like  an  Irishman 
in  form  and  features.  This  is  by  no  means 
an  uncommon  thing  here  among  the  Span- 
iards of  the  lower  orders.  One's  romantic 
notions  of  the  haughty,  sad-eyed  Castilian 
face  are  sadly  shocked  in  Cuba.  Once  I 
saw  a  white-robed  Dominican  covered  like 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  109 

Sancho,  u  four  fingers  thick  with,  good  Chris- 
tian fat,"  who  might  have  been  the  Man- 
chegan  squire  masquerading ;  and  there  is  a 
berlin-driver  in  Havana  who  perfectly  re- 
produces Lazarillo  de  Tormes :  but,  generally 
speaking,  the  Spanish  type  has  deteriorated 
and  lost  character  in  Cuba.  On  the  way 
up  in  the  boat,  which  came  at  last,  long 
after  its  time,  I  had  a  conversation  with  a 
civil  engineer,  who  told  me  he  had  just  been 
selling  a  hacienda  of  land,  in  the  western 
department  of  the  Vuelta  Abajo,  which  had 
brought  on  an  average  nine  hundred  dollars 
the  Cabatteria  of  about  thirty-three  acres. 
This  was  regarded  as  an  extraordinary  price, 
though  the  hacienda  comprised  some  of  the 
best  tobacco  lands  under  cultivation  in  Cuba, 
one  small  vega  or  farm  on  the  estate,  tilled 
by  one  man  alone,  without  slaves,  having 
netted  one  thousand  dollars  to  its  tenant 
during  the  past  year.  This  region  is  the 
promised  land  of  the  small  planters  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Virginia. 

We   reached   Havana   on   Good  Friday. 
That  day  there  was  to  have  been  a  great 
10 


110  GAN-EDEJ*. 

and  thoroughly  Spanish  show  of  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Sacred  Interment,  and  the 
subsequent  waMings  in  the  churches,  a  sort 
of  etude  ddcux  crayons,  a  caricature  in  black 
and  yellow-white,  of  the  magnificent  cere- 
monies of  Seville  —  was  to  have  been,  but  was 
not,  for  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  from  five  in 
the  afternoon  till  ten  at  night.  Nothing 
was  even  attempted,  which  was  very  wise, 
for  excepting  a  pic-nic  in  May,  nothing  is  so 
pitiable  as  a  damp  procession.  The  Cafe- 
men  who  count  largely  upon  the  gains  of 
Good  Friday,  were  disappointed,  the  priests 
were  disappointed,  the  strangers,  everybody 
but  the  young  citizens  who  have  to  do  es- 
cort duty  to  their  female  relations,  and  find 
them  in  countless  ice-creams  all  along  the 
route  of  the  parade.  On  Saturday  morning 
the  sun  rose  clear,  and,  by  daybreak,  the 
Paseo,  without  the  walls,  was  crowded  with 
carts  and  wheeled  vehicles  of  every  kind, 
jostling  and  jolting  together  for  the  prece- 
dence. At  ten  o'clock,  the  circulation  within 
the  walls,  suspended  during  Good  Friday, 
begins  again,  and  the  cartmen  regard  it  as 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  Ill 

an  omen  of  good  luck  for  the  whole  year, 
to  be  first  on  the  wharves.  At  ten  the  can- 
non boomed,  the  bells  began  to  ring,  and 
the  rattle  of  innumerable  wheels,  the  bray- 
ing of  donkeys,  the  yells  and  cries  of  men, 
made  the  fair  Easter-day  hideous.  They 
are  worse  here,  particularly  in  the  matter 
of  bells,  than  in  Italy.  A  convent  hard  by 
my  hotel,  rang  out  a  lively  jig  in  honor  of 
the  holy  day,  during  four  long  hours.  It  is 
said  that  the  priests  find  it  a  good  thing  to 
dispose  of  their  negro  penitents  by  setting 
them  to  ring  the  bells,  and  the  frequency 
with  which  the  genuine  "  break-down,"  in 
all  its  modifications,  assails  the  ear,  inclines 
one  to  accept  the  story. 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  the  first  bull-fight 
in  the  new  Plaza  was"  to  have  come  off;  but 
the  rain  began  again,  at  four  o'clock.  A 
Creole  marquis,  enriched  by  the  ingenious 
appropriation  of  a  number  of  negroes,  hired 
out  to  him  by  the  mixed  commission  of 
England  and  Spain,  intended  to  have  opened 
the  show  in  the  state  affected  on  such  occa- 
sions by  the  nobles  of  Old  Spain,  in  a  gilded 


112  QAN-EDEN. 

coach,  with  outriders  and  banners  and  what 
not.  The  rain,  which  spoiled  his  sport,  af- 
forded an  impoverished  Spanish  marquis  of 
my  acquaintance,  who  condescends  to  a 
berth  in  the  custom-house,  an  opportunity 
of  dilating  upon  the  magnificence  of  the 
outfit  with  which  he  .himself  would  have 
adorned  the  show,  had  the  weather  per- 
mitted. The  grand  Catalan  ball  also  had 
to  be  postponed,  as  the  ballroom  was  knee- 
deep  in  water.  And  the  only  spectacle  of 
Easter  Sunday  was  the  grand  mass  at  the 
Cathedral  in  the  morning,  when  the  Te 
Deuin  was  sung  in  honor  of  the  queen's 
escape  from  the  knife  of  the  crazy  priest 
Martino,  a  year  ago.  This  was  really  a  bril- 
liant affair.  The  Cathedral  itself  is  very 
like  San  Ignazio  at  Rome,  without  the  gild- 
ing, the  lapis  lazuli,  and  the  marbles  —  a 
large,  tawdry,  Romanesque  church  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  with  stuccoed  pillars, 
a  bright  blue  organ,  quantities  of  brass  or- 
naments, wax  divinities,  artificial  flowers, 
and  poor  pictures.  The  interest  of  the 
building  centres  about  the  tomb  of  Colum- 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  113 

bus,  a  mural  monument  of  white  marble, 
with  an  imaginary  bas-relief  portrait,  and  a 
paltry  inscription.  Yet  the  style  of  the 
choir,  with  its  lofty  altar  of  porphyry  and 
its  dark  mahogany  misereres  and  desks,  lends 
a  pleasant  Italian  character  to  this  last  rest- 
ing-place of  the  great  Genoese,  who,  for 
weary  years,  bore  the  New  World  about  in 
his  throbbing  brain,  praying  the  nations  of 
the  earth  to  take  the  magnificent  gift  at  his 
hands.  On  Easter  Sunday  the  Cathedral 
appeared  to  the  best  advantage.  The  high 
altar  glowed  with  candles,  little  and  large. 
The  great  aisle  of  the  nave  was  lined  on 
each  side  with  mahogany  benches,  covered 
with  scarlet  velvet,  the  floor  between  being 
appropriated  to  ladies.  Before  nine  o'clock, 
flights  of  fair  Cubans  in  their  graceful  cos- 
tume had  occupied  nearly  all  this  space, 
kneeling  on  praying-carpets  spread  for  them 
by  little  negro  pages,  wThose  gay  liveries, 
chiefly  scarlet,  or  blue  and  white,  contrasted 
finely  with  their  dark  faces.  I  was  aston- 
ished  to  see  how  few  of  the  ladies  wore  the 
old  "  regulation  black,"  of  the  church.  Silks 
10* 


114  GAN-EDEN. 

of  every  color  rustled  and  glistened  in  the 
fine  sunlight.  The  effect  was  not  so  rich  as 
that  produced  by  the  dark  masses  of  figures 
at  an  Italian  high  mass;  but  the  flowing 
mantillas  and  veils  were  there,  and  remem- 
bering how  near  to  Cuba  may  be  the  inva- 
sion of  the  bonnets,  I  was  grateful  for  what 
yet  remained  of  the  picturesque.  Officers 
in  various  uniforms,  ecclesiastics  in  capes 
and  cassocks  of  yellow  and  purple  and  scar- 
let and  black  and  green,  kept  coming  in, 
and  the  mahogany  benches  soon  began  to 
be  filled ;  while  an  increasing  crowd  of  mu- 
lattoes  and  quadroons  and  negroes,  of  dra- 
goons in  lemon-colored  jackets,  and  foot-sol- 
diers in  full  dress  of  blue  and  red,  looking 
like  awkward  National  Guards,  and  Creoles 
in  black,  and  foreigners  in  white,  swarmed 
in  the  side  aisles.  The  Plaza  outside  was 
full  of  volantes,  and  the  fine  horses  reared, 
and  plunged,  and  backed,  greatly  to  the  de- 
light of  the  vociferating  caleseros. 

Soon,  a  brilliant  staff  of  officers,  glittering 
with  orders,  announced  the  Captain-Gene- 
ral ;  and  then,  accompanied  by  a  couple  of 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  115 

aids-de-camp  in  scarlet  uniforms,  Canedo 
himself,  stiff  with  gold  lace,  blazing  with 
plaques  and  stars,  and  cut  in  two  diagonally 
by  a  huge  crimson  ribbon,  inarched  up  the 
broad  aisle  among  the  kneeling  ladies,  with 
the  stately  step  of  a  pluralist  rector.  As  I 
stood  in  the  Cathedral,  and  saw  this  repre- 
sentative of  the  ancient  crown  of  Spain 
advance,  in  all  the  paraphernalia  of  his 
rank,  and  looked  around  me  on  the  strange 
throng  of  decorated  officers,  and  silken  ec- 
clesiastics, and  collegians  in  black  doublets 
and  square  ruffs,  recalling  the  days  of  Ru- 
bens and  Vandyck  and  Velasquez,  I  seemed 
to  be  gazing  on  a  "  dissolving  view,"  the 
next  mutation  of  which  would  present  to 
the  eye,  "lean  and  hungry"  yankees  in 
black  satin  waistcoats ;  for  the  Captain-Gen- 
eral and  the  Bishop,  the  "  Governor  of  the 
State,"  and  the  "  reverend  clergy,"  and  for 
a  "grand  mass  in  honor  of  the  queen,"  a 
Fourth  of  July  oration  in  the  Tacon  theatre. 
These  visions  were  soon  scared  away  by 
the  uproar  of  the  service.  The  music  was 
Moorish  in  the  matter  of  clangor  and  rack- 


116  GAN-EDEN. 

et;  and  the  bell-ringing  at  the  altar,  now 
at  brief  intervals,  with  the  impetuous  sud- 
denness of  a  steamboat  bell  signaling  "  stop 
her "  and  "  ease  her,"  now  prolonged  and 
stunning,  like  a  dinner-bell,  was  more  intol- 
erable than  I  have  ever  heard  elsewhere. 
There  was  a  great  deal  of  posturing,  as 
usual,  by  men  in  cloth  of  gold  and  cloth  of 
silver,  but  the  service,  though  not  less  Bud- 
dhistical,  was  less  brilliant  than  in  even  the 
smaller  Italian  cities. 

I  happened  to  be  very  near  four  censer- 
men,  two  in  red  velvet  dressing-gowns,  and 
two  in  red  damask.  They  had  the  potato- 
like  faces  of  the  most  forlorn  sons  of  Con- 
naught;  the  soiled  collars  of  their  seedy 
black  coats  peeped  over  the  splendors  of 
their  robes;  the  huge  silver  urns  hung 
dejectedly,  for  the  day  was  hot,  and  the 
men  were  as  weary  as  jaded  hacks  around 
a  railroad  station.  These  wretched  men 
haunted  me  till  I  left  the  church.  What 
possible  purpose  of  religion  could  be  an- 
swered by  the  incense  of  such  miserable 
mortals,  who  seemed  to  loathe  their  heavy 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  117 

** 

silver  censers  as  the  tired  stoker  loathes  his 
coal-hod  ? 

After  the  grand  mass  we  had  a  parade. 
The  Captain-General  reviewed  about  two 
thousand  men,  infantry  and  artillery.  The 
men  are  very  sensibly  dressed  in  white  linen 
uniforms,  and  present  a  respectable  appear- 
ance. They  were  then  armed  with  heavy 
Spanish  muskets,  for  which  I  understand 
Minie  rifles  have  since  been  substituted. 
How  much  of  the  old  stuff  that  made  up 
the  armies  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  when 
the  infantry  of  Spain  were  the  best  of  Eu- 
rope, and  the  Ugotes  of  Alva  gave  a  fitting 
name  to  all  tyrants  in  religion,  is  still  to  be 
found  under  the  turreted  flag,  is  a  question 
I  will  not  undertake  to  settle.  One  thing 
at  least  is  certain.  In  those  old  times  the 
Spanish  soldier  was  a  gentleman,  and  well- 
born men  passed  their  lives  in  the  ranks. 
Now  the  Spanish  soldier  is  treated  like  a 
dog.  I  saw  men  kicked  and  cuffed  by  the 
officers  on  parade.  Common  soldiers  every- 
where, are  not  apt  to  be  the  elite  of  man- 
kind,  says  Leigh  Hunt,  and  these  troops  are 


118  GAN-EDEN. 

no  exception  to  the  rule.  Mr.  Wallis  speaks 
in  high  terms  of  the  spirit  and  martial  bear- 
ing of  the  Spanish  troops  in  Cadiz  and  the 
neighborhood,  but  the  troops  at  Havana  are 
certainly  not  distinguished  in  that  way. 
Perhaps  the  climate  affects  them,  but  they 
look  dejected  and  dull. 

Easter-Tuesday,  closing  the  Easter  festi- 
vals, sent  back  many  unlucky  people  to 
their  business,  who  had  come  up  to  the  city 
for  amusements  with  which  the  "  norther " 
had  sadly  interfered.  In  different  rural  dis- 
tricts the  season  passed  off  brilliantly.  At 
San  Antonio  and  Guanajay,  for  instance,  two 
young  ladies  being  severally  chosen  queens 
of  the  yellow  and  the  crimson  bands,  ap- 
pointed their  courts,  created  nobles,  and,  of 
course,  declared  war  against  each  other. 
The  cockpit  was  their  Flanders,  and  the 
conflict  was  waged  by  those  gladiatorial 
birds,  whose  courage  makes  them  the  vic- 
tims of  man's  ferocious  tastes.  The  news- 
papers of  Havana  for  a  fortnight  had  been 
full  of  pompous  proclamations  from  these 
rival  queens,  records  of  levees,  and  loyal 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  119 

poetry  quite  as  poor  as  the  effusions  of  more 
conspicuous  laureates.  On  Sunday,  accounts 
of  the  successive  cockfights  were  transmit- 
ted to  Havana.  This  nonsense,  like  the  fol- 
lies of  the  Carnival  at  Rome,  is  sedulously 
encouraged  by  the  government. 

The  disappointments  of  Easter  week  fell 
heavily  on  the  Catalans,  whose  Orphan  So- 
ciety is  aided  by  the  profits  of  annual  balls 
at  Easter.  These  balls  are  usually  given  in 
the  Opera  House,  but  this  year  the  proprie- 
tor of  that  building,  (a  notorious  ex-pirate, 
to  whom  Tacon  granted  great  privileges, 
including  the  monopoly  of  the  fish-market,) 
was  so  unreasonable,  that  the  Catalans  got 
permission  to  erect  a  great  shanty  in  the 
Campo  Marte  or  parade  ground.  The  de- 
parture of  the  country  people  was  a  sad 
blow  to  the  Catalans,  and  the  ex-pirate  prob- 
ably rubbed  his  hands  with  delight  at  every 
shower.  But  when  at  last  they  gave  their 
ball,  the  attendance  was  good,  and  the  scene 
very  lively.  There  were  masks  of  all  sorts, 
negroes,  animals,  Chinamen,  Indians,  slim 
little  brown  Highlanders  in  wluie  kitts,  Cos- 


120  GAN-EDEN. 

sacks  in  patent  leather  pumps,  an  English 
jockey  in  a  red  cotton  frock  coat  and  yellow 
Spanish  boots,  with  other  such  vraisemlhint 
characters  as  one  usually  sees  at  such  places. 
But  there  were  also  some  genuine  novelties, 
Andalusians  in  the  mqfa,  Biscayans,  Astu- 
rians,  Gallicians,  in  their  national  costumes. 
Comparsas,  or  bands  of  young  men,  performed 
on  a  great  platform,  different  national 
dances.  And  yet  the  show  was  the  very 
faintest  shadow  of  that  enthralling  and 
astounding  Walpurgis-night,  the  masked 
ball  of  the  French  Opera.  The  Spaniard 
wants  the  wit  and  diablerie,  the  Creole  lacks 
the  vigor  and  vivacity  of  that  most  naive, 
extraordinary,  blase  and  yet  inexhaustible 
youth,  the  true  Parisian. 

The  Spaniard  would  never  tolerate  those 
jocose  and  frivolous  parodies  of  the  bull- 
fight, which  used  to  win  such  applause  at 
the  Hippodrome ;  neither  would  the  Parisian 
endure  the  brutality  of  the  veritable  "  cor- 
rida de  toros."  The  horror  of  the  bull-fight 
does  not  consist  in  the  danger  to  the  men. 
As  Lord  Byron  well  says,  an  English  box- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  121 

ing-match  ought  to  be  ten  times  more  dis- 
gusting on  that  score.  Neither  do  I  think 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  bull  are  such  as  to 
shock  us  greatly.  The  bull  is  a  fierce  crea- 
ture. On  Dr.  Watts's  theory  he  should  be 
allowed  to  "  delight "  in  bellowing  and  but- 
ting, "for  'tis  his  nature  to!"  Every  thing 
conspires  to  excite  him ;  and  when  his  blood 
is  up,  he  can  hardly  be  even  sb  conscious  of 
the  wounds  which  he  receives,  as  is  a  man 
or  a  boy  of  the  blows  which  he  takes  in  a 
battle  of  fisticuffs.  The  true  loathsomeness 
of  the  spectacle  (the  moral  influence  of  the 
whole  practice  is,  of  course,  detestable)  con- 
sists, I  think,  in  the  appearance  of  the 
wounded  horses.  I  saw  but  one  bull-fight, 
and  such  was  the  impression  left  on  my 
mind.  Yet  that  was  a  ''  gentle  and  joyous 
passage  of  arms,"  for  only  two  horses  per- 
ished. Three  of  the  bulls  indeed  played 
the  ox,  and  refused  the  encounter,  justifying 
thus  the  sneer  of  that  Captain-General  who 
refused  to  establish  bull-fights  on  the  plea 
that  there  were  no  bulls  in  Cuba.  One  of 
these  recreants,  as  soon  as  the  picador  rode 
11 


122  GAN-EDEN. 

at  him,  lance  in  rest,  turned  tail  and  trotted 
off  as  if  before  the  herdsman.  Round  and 
round  the  arena  he  trotted,  looking  up  pa- 
thetically at  the  people,  till  the  audience 
clamored  for  his  removal.  The  beast  was 
BO  astounded  and  alarmed,  that  when  the 
door  was  opened  he  kept  running  by  it,  till 
some  person  wisely  thought  of  backing  in 
another  bull,  at  sight  of  whose  familiar  tail, 
the  bull  within  made  a  rush  and  followed 
his  cousin  out.  A  brave  black  bull  who 
fought  fiercely,  received  great  applause  from 
the  amateurs  round  about  me.  "  Ay !  ay ! " 
cried  one,  "  that  is  like  the  little  ones  (los 
chicos)  of  Navarre ! "  This  bull  was  struck 
by  the  matador  (or  killer)  very  unsteadily, 
so  that  his  first  rush  upon  the  extended 
sword  did  not  slay  him,  and  he  was  dis- 
patched by  a  second  blow.  This  was  en- 
tirely against  the  rules  of  the  "  art,"  and  the 
unlucky  matador  was  chased  out  with  hisses 
and  cries  of  "  Blockhead !  assassin  !  foul  fin- 
gers !  butcher ! "  "  Ay  de  mi !  "  sighed  an 
enthusiast  near  by  me,  "  so  noble  a  bull  so 
basely  killed ! "  I  was  reminded  of  Byron's 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  123 

story  about  the  priest's  bull  at  Cadiz,  that 
was  cheered  for  tossing  three  horses.  All 
these  fights  were  criticized  in  the  "  Diario 
de  la  Marina,"  as  gravely  and  elaborately  as 
the  performances  at  the  theatre.  But  the 
show  and  the  criticism  interested  only  Pen- 
insulars. The  Creoles  do  not  love  the  sport 
in  itself,  and  they  regard  its  revival  as  a 
mere  farce. 


CHAPTER    X. 

"Into  the  green-recessed  woods." 
KEATS. 

THE  change  from  the  endless  levels,  pine 
barrens,  swamps,  and  sluggish  streams  of 
Eastern  Carolina  and  Virginia,  to  the  high- 
lands, clean  forests,  and  quick  waters  of  the 
mountain  districts,  is  not  more  complete 
than  from  the  rolling  savannas,  sentinel 
palms,  and  motionless  lagunas  of  the  Vuelta 
Abajo,  to  the  hill  roads,  dense  vegetation, 
and  broad,  sweeping  vistas  of  the  north 
coast.  The  south  is  tropical  to  the  spirit, 
the  north  more  superbly  tropical  to  the  eye. 
Here  is  the  domain  of  that  gorgeous  and 
formidable  vegetation  which  wages  such  a 
constant  war  with  the  works  of  man,  the 
vegetation  which  has  toppled  down  the 
temples  of  the  Aztec,  and  hidden  the 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  125 

cities  of  Central  America  in  a  green  night, 
and  built  along  the  Orinoco  and  the 
Amazon  fortresses  of  barbarism  and  of  ig- 
norance, impregnable  alike  by  commerce 
and  by  curiosity.  The  wastes  of  north- 
ern Cuba  are  jungles  of  closely  twining 
plants,  gay  with  the  myriad  hues  of  strange, 
magnificent  flowers,  and  overtopped  by 
gigantic  trees,  whose  trunks  are  not  less 
gay  with  fantastic  embroideries,  and  from 
whose  Briarean  arms  hang  countless  veils 
and  fringes  of  creeping  plants,  the  names  of 
which  cause  upon  the  ear  the  same  indefi- 
nite impression  of  savage  magnificence  that 
is  made  by  their  blended,  indistinguishable 
forms  upon  the  eye.  All  things,  which  to 
us  of  the  temperate  zones  are  creatures  of 
boxes  and  of  bales,  creations,  we  might  per- 
haps as  truly  say,  of  the  merchant  and  the 
grocer,  meet  us  here  at  every  turn,  wild  and 
bold  in  the  woods,  the  fan-like  cacao-tree, 
the  spreading  vanilla,  the  parasite  tamarind, 
the  gaunt  and  desolate  guava.  The  cactus 
no  longer  struggles  for  existence  in  the  fee- 
ble sunshine  of  a  three  pair  back  window 
11* 


126  GAN-EDEN. 

with  a  southern  exposure ;  but,  swollen  to 
the  size  of  a  scrub-oak,  impedes  your  way 
with  its  dull,  hideous,  prickly  leaves,  and 
flaunts  its  great  flowers  in  your  face.  You 
may  cool  your  thirst  by  day  with  the  sweet, 
clear  waters  of  the  cocoa-nut.  You  may 
cool  your  heated  eyes  by  night  with  such 
floods  of  golden  moonlight  as  would  have 
driven  Shelley  mad.  The  moon,  which  gives 
expression  to  the  most  tedious  landscape, 
and  the  most  unmeaning  face,  and  converts 
the  delight  of  gazing  upon  beauty  into  a 
kind  of  frenzy,  the  moon  makes  all  men 
Endymions  in  Cuba. 

The  silence  of  these  tropic  forests  is  tre- 
mendous. Still  are  they  as  the  seat  of 
Saturn.  No  beast  crashes  through  the 
undergrowth,  no  bird  sings  in  the  branches, 
no  wind  sighs  through  the  mighty  tops. 
The  living  creatures  of  that  world  glance 
noiselessly  through  the  air,  or  glide  stealth- 
ily beneath  the  heavy  sound-deadening 
verdure.  Your  own  voice  startles  you. 
Sublime  at  first,  this  silence  soon  grows 
insufferably  oppressive.  You  are  on  the 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  127 

point  of  giving  an  impatient  shout,  when 
your  purpose  is  anticipated  by  nature  with 
a  shriek  which  pierces  your  very  brain,  a 
shriek  mean  and  malicious  as  the  cry  of  an 
imp.  Saddening  is  the  absence  of  song 
birds  from  the  Cuban  landscape.  With  the 
exception  of  a  few  visitors  from  the  Florida 
coast,  the  birds  of  Cuba  are  only  gaily 
dressed  birds  of  the  ball-room.  America,  in 
general,  has  been  ill-treated  in  this  matter. 
Among  the  woods  of  our  own  New  England, 
we  may  not  hold  our  breath  to  hear  as  in 
Surrey  or  in  Switzerland :  — 

"  The  selfsame  song  that  found  a  path, 
Through  the  sad  heart  of  Ruth,  when  sick  for  home, 
She  stood  iu  tears  among  the  alien  com ; " 

nor  soar  with  "  the  scorner  of  the  ground," 
till  our  own  souls  become  "  blithesome  and 
cumber-less,"  as  that  "sightless  song."  Yet 
for  us  the  clarion  of  the  wood  thrush  rings 
nobly  sweet  through  the  aisles  of  the  pine 
forest,  and  the  Canadian  whistler  outpipes 
all  Arcady  among  our  stately  hills,  and  the 
bubbling  rapture  of  the  bobolink  chases 


128  GAN-EDEN. 

awhile  the  thought  of  death  that  haunts  our 
fatal  shores.  Cuba  has  no  such  voices.  Her 
landscape  is  worse  than  soulless.  The  par- 
rot gives  it  an  uncanny  soul,  a  sprite  of  evil. 
Is  there  not  at  least  an  elective  affinity  be- 
tween scandal-mongers  and  parrots,  between 
those  shrewish,  furbelowed,  feathered  dowa- 
gers, and  their  ill-tongued  gossips,  the 
"  Kaffeeschwestern,"  the  unmusical  human 
souls  that  love  "  the  treasons,  stratagems, 
and  spoils  "  of  social  life  ?  The  white  par- 
rot in  particular,  has  something  positively 
diabolical  in  the  tone  of  its  voice.  Had 
Ver-Vert  been  a  white  parrot,  he  had  never 
needed  a  trip  to  Lyons  to  corrupt  him. 

But  if  the  ear  be  defrauded  of  its  dues  in 
Cuba,  the  eye  luxuriates.  The  island  com- 
prises within  its  borders  the  most  beauteous 
extremes  of  hill  and  plain  —  plains  un- 
broken as  prairies,  mountains  that  rival  the 
highest  peaks  of  the  Appalachians.  The 
towns,  it  is  true,  are  monotonously  alike. 
In  seeing  Havana  one  has  seen  the  leading 
traits  of  appearance  and  of  social  character 
which  distinguish  all  the  lesser  cities.  There 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  129 

are,  however,  a  few  places  of  some  note 
which  possess  a  picturesque  individuality. 
Matanzas,  the  "  home  of  the  Muses  "  in  Cuba, 
has  its  lovely  bay,  shoaling  out  so  far  from 
shore  that  between  the  fleet  of  ships  and 
the  noble  quay  the  moon  at  night  makes  a 
broad  lagoon  of  gold,  dotted  over  with  little 
scudding  cloud-like  boats  and  launches ;  and 
it's  long,  rolling,  flower-studded  hill  of  the 
Cumbre,  parting  the  busy  town  from  the 
happy  valley  of  the  Yumuri,  a  valley  bright 
with  the  contrasting  beryls  and  emeralds  of 
the  cane  fields  and  the  woods,  and  peaceful 
with  the  calm  presence  of  colossal  ceybas, 
that  rise  above  its  green  and  golden  undula- 
tions of  foliage,  like  holy  bishops,  full  of 
power  and  pastoral  love.  In  its  effect  upon 
a  landscape  the  ceyba  singularly  resembles 
that  most  impressive  of  trees,  the  Eoman 
pine. 

Ancient  Baracoa,  the  earliest  settlement 
of  the  Spanish,  stands  like  one  of  the  eyry 
cities  of  the  Rhine,  a  watchtower  looking 
to  the  east.  Santiago  de  Cuba,  scarred  by 
earthquakes  from  which  its  magnificent 
rocky  portals,  its  pillars  of  Hercules,  were 


130  GAN-EDEN. 

no  defence,  asserts  in  its  stately  position  and 
in  the  French  tone  of  its  society,  a  right  to 
particular  mention.  So,  too,  I  suppose  would 
revolutionary  Puerto  Principe,  which  had 
the  courage  to  shut  up  its  doors  and  win- 
dows during  the  visit  of  his  Excellency  the 
Captain-General,  giving  the  lie  by  the  som- 
bre silence  of  the  houses  and  the  compara- 
tive desertion  of  the  streets,  to  the  loyal  up- 
holstery of  the  public  buildings  and  -the 
Plaza.  Enterprising  Trinidad  boasts  of  its 
fine  harbor,  and  its  handsome  houses,  and 
of  the  princely  sugar  estates  which  assure 
its  prosperity.  Even  the  little  new  western 
port  of  Cabanas  lifts  up  its  voice,  concerning 
the  grandeur  of  that  arm  of  the  sea  which 
for  seven  miles  forces  its  way  through  bold 
shores  luxuriant  with  a  gorgeous  vegetation, 
and  affords  a  space  wherein,  as  the  geogra- 
phies say,  "  all  the  navies  of  the  world  might 
ride  securely  at  anchor."  The  oyster  eater 
will  find  his  way  to  Sagua,  and  the  man 
who  "depends  on  shooting  a  flamingo,"  like 
the  traveller  in  Switzerland  whose  heart  is 
set  on  a  chamois,  will  probably  see  more  of 
the  island  than  he  will  care  to  describe. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  131 

Less  than  one  third  of  the  land  m  Cuba 
being  under  cultivation,  large  regions  are  as 
little  known  as  the  interior  of  Asia.  From 
every  height  which  the  traveller  attains,  he 
may  descry  a  horizon  teeming  with  wonder 
and  with  fancy,  out  of  the  ignorance  and 
silence  of  whose  purple  mystery  no  voice  has 
come,  these  hundred  years.  There  are  for- 
ests, the  refuge  of  the  wild  dog  and  the 
wilder  man,  the  fierce  Maroon,  the  black 
pioneer  of  doom,  haunting  the  outskirts  of 
a  tyrannous  civilization.  There  are  moun- 
tains, unmeasured  and  ungauged,  couching, 
it  may  be,  above  treasures  which  the  venge- 
ful Cemis  hid  from  the  greedy  murderers  of 
his  mild  worshippers. 

Much  of  the  inhabited  interior,  too,  is  as 
little  visited  as  the  western  slopes  of  the 
southern  Alleghanies.  The  primitive  method 
of  travelling,  and  the  antique  hospitality  of 
the  rural  regions,  throw  a  charm  of  mediae- 
val unreality  over  scenes  that  may  be  really 
explored.  The  magnificent  vale  of  Mariel, 
fair  as  those  outer  realms  of  Paradise  over 
which  the  eyes  of  Adam  ranged  from  his 


132  GAN-EDEN. 

"  heaven-kissing  verdurous  walls  ; "  the  ro- 
mantic cliffs  that  mirror  their  wealth  of  flow- 
ers in  the  green  glistening  waters  of  the 
winding  Canimar ;  the  mighty  steeps  of  the 
Loma  de  Indra,  from  whose  heights  the  view 
sweeps  to  either  ocean,  and  away  to  the  dim 
blue  hills  of  Jamaica;  the  endless  fragrant 
palm-studded  solitudes  of  the  south-west;  the 
picturesque  ravines  of  the  north-east,  where 
young  girls  may  be  seen  riding  on  the  backs 
of  oxen ;  the  subterranean  streams  gushing 
suddenly  into  the  moonlight  from  the  black- 
ness of  the  sumideros,  or  caverns,  which  hon- 
eycomb the  surface  of  the  island ;  the  hun- 
dred sequestered  nooks  where  still  the  gua- 
giro  chants  his  rude  improvisations,  melodi- 
ous and  full  of  meaning  as  the  cries  of  a 
bellman,  or  the  songs  of  a  gondolier,  and 
charms,  in  the  skilful  gymnastics  of  the  zap- 
ateado,  groups  of  soft-eyed  girls,  graceful  as 
the  palm-trees  arching  overhead;  all  these 
you  reach  over  roads  that  transport  you  to 
the  middle  ages.  Rudely  marked  out  with 
limits  which  the  irrepressible  gush  of  vege- 
table life  is  continually  obliterating,  worn 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  133 

by  the  huge  wheels  of  ox-carts,  often  lead- 
ing you  through  the  small  rivers  of  the 
country,  and  always  guiltless  of  even  the 
semblance  of  a  bridge,  these  "highways" 
make  intelligible  to  you  old  Froissart's  hesi- 
tation in  recording  the  feat  of  that  young 
Percy,  who  actually  travelled  from  Berlin  to 
Ghent  in  fourteen  days,  to  join  the  army  of 
king  Edward  III*  Riding  along  these 
wretched  roads  you  meet  only  the  most  pri- 
meval vehicles,  long  files  of  packhorses  and 
mules,  and  armed  horsemen  glittering  with 
spur  and  sword. 

In  bygone  years,  all  invalids  who  visited 
the  island  were  obliged  to  find  their  way 
into  the  interior,  depending  upon  the  un- 


*  The  dweller  in  the  land,  who  does  n't  care  for  the  middle 
ages,  looks  with  small  complacency  upon  these  roads.  A  friend 
of  mine  imported  from  Antwerp  some  machinery,  which  was 
sent  about  seventy  miles  into  the  interior,  to  his  estate.  The 
cost  of  land  transportation  was  much  greater  than  the  freight 
across  the  Atlantic. 

One  is  struck  in  Havana  hy  the  apparent  waste  of  power  in 
the  manner  of  loading  the  maloja,  or  green  fodder,  on  the  backs  of 
mules.  But  a  single  trip  into  the  country  satisfies  you, that  a  five 
miles'  journey  in  a  cart  would  turn  the  greenest  fodder  into  exe- 
crable hay. 

12 


134  GAN-EDEN. 

failing  hospitality  of  the  planters.  Now  the 
coast  lines  of  railway  have  changed  the  sys- 
tem, and  a  few  well-known  boarding-houses, 
comparatively  easy  of  access,  secure  the 
traveller  a  sufficient  variety  of  scene  and 
atmosphere.  Most  of  these  places  are  on  the 
northern  shore,  though  the  southern  towns 
are  within  an  easy  journey  of  Havana  now, 
by  the  Bataban6  railway  and  the  steamers 
which  run  along  the  coast.  Guines,  Buena 
Esperanza,  and  Limonar  are  the  points  to 
which  strangers  are  generally  directed.  The 
intelligent  author  of  "  Notes  on  Cuba,"  Dr. 
Wurdeman,  considers  Limonar  the  most  de- 
sirable spring  residence  on  the  island.  It 
may  be  reached  now  easily  by  railway,  en- 
joys a  most  delicious  climate,  and  offers  the 
further  attraction  of  comfortable  houses, 
well  kept  and  in  a  cheerful  neighborhood. 
Guines,  which  used  to  be  the  most  celebrated 
hospital  town  in  Cuba,  has  sunk  in  impor- 
tance of  late  years.  The  rides  in  the  neigh- 
borhood are  pleasant,  though  by  no  means 
so  lovely  as  those  about  Limonar.  This  con- 
sideration is  of  the  first* consequence  for 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  135 

convalescents.  Nothing  can  be  more  fatal 
than  confinement  to  a  great  dreary  board- 
ing-house in  a  foreign  country.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  melancholy  face  of  a  young 
American  lady  whom  I  saw  at  Guines,  left 
there  with  her  young  child,  to  recover  from 
•an  attack  premonitory,  of  consumption.  She 
had  not  been  out  of  the  house  for  days,  and 
though  it  was  plain  that  her  health  had  not 
been  seriously  shaken  by  her  disease,  the 
solitude  and  wofulness  of  her  situation  were 
doing  her  more  harm  than  all  the  winds  of 
the  East  could  have  wrought.  The  balmiest 
climate  can  do  little  for  the  body  while  the 
mind  is  nipped  and  chilled.  One  sees  many 
people  in  Cuba  who  seem  to  be  taking  the 
sweet  air,  just  as  they  would  take  black 
draughts  and  blue  pills.  Of  course  it  is  not 
surprising  that  they  derive  no  more  benefit 
from  the  one  than  from  the  other.  Those 
who  can  visit  the  tropics  in  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, and  before  disease  has  destroyed 
their  power  of  enjoyment,  sfiould  be  in  all 
ways  encouraged  to  undertake  the  voyage.  . 
To  them  Cuba  will  be  indeed  a  "  Garden  of 


136  GAN-EDEN. 

Delight."  To  all  others  it  is  quite  as  likely 
to  be  a  "  Garden  of  Death."  If  a  man  is  left 
alone  with  his  ailing  consciousness,  unable  to 
comprehend  the  life  going  on  around  him, 
brought  into  none  but  mercenary  relations 
with  his  fellow-creatures,  and  cannot  run 
away;  a  sick  deer  in  a  strange  herd,  what 
can  he  do  but  die  ?  And  such  is  the  vigor 
of  that  nature,  death  grows  as  rapidly  as 
life.  Decay  does  not  crumble,  it  crushes. 

Reckless  as  is  the  temper  of  modern  times, 
death  among  strangers  must  still  be  dread- 
ful to  all  who  have  ever  loved  a  home.  All 
that  accompanies  death,  too,  in  Cuba,  is  par- 
ticularly repulsive.  Difficulties  are  thrown 
in  the  way  of  the  becoming  burial  of  those 
who  die  out  of  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Church  of  Ferdinand  VII.  and  Isabella  II. 
The  Campos  Santos,  or  burial-grounds,  are 
vile  places,  where  corpses  are  thrown  aside 
as  they  are  in  Italy,  without  respect  and 
without  memorials  even  so  lasting  as  the 
widow's  tears  or  the  tolling  of  the  funeral 
bell.  Before  burial,  the  dead,  dressed  in  the 
gayest  manner,  are  exposed  on  catafalques 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  137 

set  around  with  candles,  in  the  great  saloon 
of  their  homes.  Ghastly  faces  stare  sud- 
denly out  on  you  from  within  the  iron-barred 
windows,  as  you  walk  the  city  streets.  Un- 
coffined  and  unshrouded,  for  the  most  part, 
the  dead  are  flung  into  shallow  graves, 
whence  they  will  soon  be  jostled  by  their 
successors  in  the  endless  procession.  Dark 
stories  are  told  of  those  who  have  charge  of 
these  interments.  A  certain  countess,  who 
died  near  by  us  in  Havana,  was  laid  out  in 
state  and  superbly  arrayed.  When  the,  day 
of  the  funeral  came,  one  of  the  friends  with 
a  knife,cut  into  shreds  the  fine  silks  and  sat- 
ins of  her  robes,  making  them  valueless  as 
merchandise. 

Among  the  conservative  old  Spanish  a 
great  deal  of  formality  obtains  in  the  mat- 
ter of  mourning.  It  is  considered  proper 
for  the  family  to  shroud  every  thing  in  the 
house  of  death.  Pictures  are  turned  to  the 
wall,  furniture  gloomily  draped.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  funeral,  all  the  relations  and 
connections  of  the  deceased  meet  at  the 
house,  where  they  dine  together,  the  family 
12* 


138  GAN-EDEN. 

keeping  out  of  the  way  in  private  rooms  till 
after  dinner,  when  they  appear,  and  two 
great  circles  are  formed  in  the  saloon,  the 
females  gathering  into  one  and  the  males 
into  another.  Lugubrious  conversation  then 
commences.  This  ceremony  is  repeated 
daily  during  nine  days !  and  is  plainly  only 
a  variation  of,  and  as  plainly  not  an  im- 
provement upon,  the  barbaric  mourning  of 
the  East. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

"  Destiny  cast  them  among  the  plantations,  and  the  gardens,  where 
•were  fruits  growing  in  clusters."    ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 

THE  great  sugar  estates  of  Cuba  lie  in 
the  Vuelta  Arriba,  the  "  upper  district/'  the 
region  of  the  famous  "  red  earth."  The  face 
of  this  region  smiles  with  prosperity.  In 
every  direction  the  traveller  rides  astonished 
through  a  garden  of  plenty,  equally  im- 
pressed by  the  magnificent  extent,  and  the 
profuse  fertility  of  the  estates  whose  palm 
avenues,  plantain  orchards,  and  cane  fields 
succeed  each  other  in  almost  unbroken  suc- 
cession. Many  of  these  properties  yield 
princely  revenues,  and  are  worked  by 
"gangs"  of  slaves,  much  larger  than  are 
common  in  the  American  States.  The  orig- 


140  GAN-EDEN. 

inal  outlay  upon  such  an  estate  is  very  large, 
although  land  can  be  procured  cheaply 
enough,  and  the  expenses  of  management 
are  very  heavy.  The  salaries  of  engineers 
upon  estates  worked  in  the  old-fashioned 
manner,  average  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars  a  month,  during  the  grinding 
season.  But  the  French  machinery  is  con- 
ducted by  persons  of  superior  capacity,  who 
ate  tempted  hither  from  Europe  or  America 
by  the  offer  of  permanent  situations  at  much 
higher  salaries.  Four  or  five  such  persons 
must  be  maintained  upon  a  large  estate. 
To  the  amount  thus  expended,  must  be 
added  the  wages  of  white  subordinates,  the 
expenses  of  five  hundred  or  of  a  thousand 
negroes,  the  value  of  cattle  annually  de- 
stroyed, the  incidental  outlay,  and  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  the  interest  upon  the  large 
sums  which  the  planter  has  borrowed  in  a 
country  where  money  has  an  extraordinary 
value.  Yet  so  productive  are  the  estates, 
and  so  steady  is  the  demand  for  the  plant- 
er's crop,  that  the  great  sugar  planters  of 
Cuba  are  in  truth  princes  of  agriculture. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  141 

Cholera,  sweeping  away  troops  of  his  slaves, 
the  match  of  an  envious,  or  the  cigar  of  a 
careless  montero  kindling  a  flame  that  nothing 
can  arrest,  are  alike  powerless  to  interrupt 
seriously  the  prosperous  career  of  an  intel- 
ligent and  enterprising  hacendado.  The  rui- 
nous practice  of  absenteeism,  which  pre- 
pared for  the  British  West  Indies  that 
sudden  ruin,  so  often  and  so  unjustly  charged 
upon  emancipation,  is  comparatively  un- 
known in  Cuba.  The  administradores  of  the 
Cuban  estates  are  frequently  members  of 
the  proprietor's  family.  And  the  proprietors 
themselves  generally  pass  a  part  of  the  year 
on  their  estates.  The  master's  eye  keeps 
watch  over  those  admirable  arrangements 
and  tasteful  decorations,  which  make  a  great 
sugar  estate  so  delightful  to  the  stranger. 
Particularly  beautiful  are  the  estates  to 
which  a  cafctal  is  attached.  The  coffee  cul- 
ture, was  introduced  by  the  French  refugees 
from  Hayti,  men  of  taste  and  refinement, 
who  in  laying  out  the  grounds  of  their  new 
homes,  took  thought  for  the  beautiful  as 
well  as  for  the  useful.  The  Spaniards  gen- 


142  GAN-EDEN. 

e  rally,  (Garcilaso  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing) seem  to  have  ddne  but  little  for 
the  advance  of  landscape  gardening,  and  the 
glorious  opportunities  offered  by  Cuba  to  the 
art,  have  been  little  improved  excepting  in 
the  cafctales.  Although  Brazil  has  quite 
broken  down  the  Cuban  coffee  trade,  these 
coffee  estates  are  still  numerous  in  the  Vu- 
elta  Arriba,  where  they  are  kept  up  on  the 
French  models,  chiefly  as  ornaments  to  the 
sugar  estates,  vegetable  farms,  and  homes 
for  the  younger  or  the  decrepit  negroes. 
The  imposing  scale  of  the  operations  on  a 
great  ingenio,  imparts  a  character  of  barbaric 
regal  state  to  the  life  one  leads  there.  The 
baracon  becomes  a  town,  the  planter  a  feudal 
lord,  administering  hospitalities  as  lavish  as 
the  bounty  of  the  climate  and  the  soil. 
Living  in  such  a  region,  one  soon  enters  into 
the  spirit  of  that  eastern  munificence  and 
profusion  which  disdains  limits  and  calcula- 
tions. The  singular  number  falls  into  disre- 
pute. A  kind  of  gorgeous  superfluity  seems 
only  fit  and  becoming.  Your  thought  is  all 
u  of  Africa  and  golden  joys."  The  luxuri- 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  143 

ous  seductions  of  the  land  persuade  you 
into  a  new  charity  towards  men  so  superbly 
tempted.  The  energy  with  which  the  ad- 
ministradores  address  themselves  to  their 
work  is  surprising  to  you.  You  feel  as  if 
the  calls  of  prudence,  in  such  a  region,  might 
well  enough  be  met  in  the  spirit  of  Nou- 
reddin,  when  to  all  his  steward's  remon- 
strances he  calmly  answered,  "Know  O 
steward!  that  if  thou  hast  in  thy  hands 
what  will  suffice  for  my  dinner,  thou  sh,alt 
not  burden  me  with  anxiety  respecting  my 
supper ! " 

Looking  at  them  simply  as  an  entertain- 
ment, the  mills  of  these  great  sugar  estates 
are  not  incongruous  with  the  easy  delight 
of  the  place.  Every  thing  is  open  and  airy, 
and  the  processes  of  the  beautiful  steam 
machinery  go  on  without  the  odors  as  with- 
out the  noises  that  make  most  manufacto- 
ries odious.  Many  ingenious  applications 
of  chemical  and  mechanical  science  lend  an 
interest  to  the  De  Rosny  trains,*  which  were 

*  The  terra  train  is  given  to  the  succession  of  boilers  and  vats 
through  which  the  cane  juice  passes  in  the  course  of  its  transmu- 
tation into  sugar. 


144  GAN-EDEN. 

invented  by  a  Frenchman  who  had  never 
seen  a  sugar  estate,  and  who  on  coming  to 
the  West  Indies,  could  not  work  profitably 
his  own  machinery.  The  most  interesting 
to  me  of  these  arrangements  was  the  cen- 
trifugal process.  The  molasses,  which  on  the 
old-fashioned  estates  eventually  distils  into 
diamond  drops  of  aguardiente,  is  converted 
by  this  process  into  sugar.  It  passes  into  a 
large  vat,  by  the  side  of  which  is  a  row  of 
double  cylinders,  the  outer  one  of  solid 
metal,  the  inner  of  wire  gauze.  These  cyl- 
inders revolve  each  on  an  axis  attached  by 
a  horizontal  wheel  and  band  to  a  shaft 
which  communicates  with  the  central  engine. 
The  molasses  is  ladled  out  into  the  spaces 
between  the  external  and  internal  cylinders, 
and  the  axes  are  set  in  motion  at  the  rate 
of  nineteen  hundred  revolutions  a  minute. 
For  three  minutes  you  see  only  a  white  in- 
distinct whirling;  then  the  motion  is  ar- 
rested; slowly  and  more  slowly  the  cylin- 
ders revolve,  then  stop,  and  behold!  the 
whole  inner  surface  of  the  inner  cylinder  is 
covered  with  beautiful  crystallizations  of  a 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  145 

light  yellow  sugar!  Watching  this  inge- 
nious process,  I  used  to  fancy  that  somewhat 
in  this  wise,  might  the  nebulae  of  space  be 
slowly  fashioning  into  worlds. 

But  the  cafctal  is  after  all  the  great  charm 
of  these  northern  ingenios.  On  one  of  the  love- 
liest in  the  island,  I  spent  a  season,the  brevity 
of  which  I  shall  always  regret.  Early  in  the 

inspiring  morning,  my  friend  Don used 

to  summon  me  for  a  drive.  A  dozen  ne- 
groes would  appear,to  harness  one  little  lively 
horse,  into  a  light  American  wagon,  bought 
by  my  friend  for  the  purpose  of  driving  over 
the  thirteen  miles  of  sugar  and  coffee  es- 
tates, on  which  he  has  made  good  broad 
roads.  A  whole  pack  of  dogs  started  off 
before  us,  yelping,  leaping,  and  darting  in 
all  directions,  and  then  we  dashed  away  at 
a  brisk  pace,  through  the  seemingly  endless 
cane  fields.  The  heavy  dew,  glittering  on 
the  waves  of  green,  gave  them  a  soft  bril- 
liancy ;  the  cloudless  skies,  the  buoyant  air, 
beguiled  the  way,  till  we  drove  into  the 
cool  shades  of  the  plantaneria,  or  plantain 
grove,  the  unfailing  adjunct  of  all  estates 
13 


146  GAN-EDEN. 

in  this  land,  where  plantain  and  pork  are  as 
ranch  the  staff  of  life  to  the  montero,  and 
the  negro,  as  are  beef  and  water  to  the 
guacho,  or  bacon  and  greens  to  the  Virgin- 
ian. The  plantain  tree,  though  by  no 
means  lofty  or  imposing  —  looking,  indeed, 
more  like  a  seedy  cabbage  with  long  leaves 
or  an  overgrown  flag,  than  like  a  tree  —  still 
reaches  the  height  of  twenty  feet  or  more, 
and  its  heavy  dark  green  leaves  nodding 
over  the  ruddy  ground,  make  a  delightful 
shade,  a  sort  of  cool  baptistery,  from  which 
you  pass  into  the  statelier  sanctuaries  of  the 
cafctal.  There  the  full-leaved  orange,  the 
thrifty,  dark,  glossy  foliage  of  the  mango, 
the  tall  elm-like  aguacate,  the  coneshaped 
mamey,  cover  the  land  on  both  sides  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  reach.  Everywhere  3*011  see 
the  light,  shrubby  outlines  of  the  coffee 
plant  springing  up  beneath  the  taller  trees. 
Avenues,  miles  in  length,  lead  to  the  differ- 
ent quarters  of  the  estate,  and  formed  as 
they  are  of  the  full  exuberant  mango,  or  the 
branching  aguacate,  planted  alternately  with 
the  towering  royal  palm,  become  forest 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  147 

aisles  of  surpassing  beauty.  The  height  of 
the  palms  is  immense,  many  of  them  rising 
more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  into 
the  air.  Overtopping  thus  the  other  trees, 
their  sweeping  noble  arches  do  not  exclude 
the  sunlight,  which  pours  through  the  inter- 
vals as  through  the  clere-story  windows  of  a 
cathedral,  and  illuminates  the  green  solem- 
nity of  the  majestic  colonnades. 

The  cottage  of  the  cafetal  was  an  elegantly 
proportioned  little  tropical  mansion,  cool, 
dark,  floored  with  marble,  wainscoted,  and 
furnished  with  rich  deep-hued  Indian  woods. 
A  garden  filled  with  heavy  blooms,  of  jas- 
mine and  roses,  and  the  gorgeous  purple 
Carolina,  and  a  hundred  drooping  odorous 
flowers,  made  the  air  faint  with  fragrance. 
A  dense  grove  of  orange  trees  near  by,  was 
lighted  up  through  all  its  recesses  by  the 
glowing  fruit.  Oranges  lay  all  about  on  the 
bright  red  earth,  little  naked  negroes  kick- 
ing aside,  and  satiated  pigs  disdainfully  neg- 
lecting great  luscious  fruit,  which  the  North 
would  pile  with  pride,  upon  salvers  of  silver 
and  porcelain. 


148  GAN-EDEN. 

Whenever  we  rode  over  to  the  cafetal,  we 
always  found  lying  on  the  marble  tables  of 
the  saloon,  a  heap  of  these  superb  oranges, 
with  the  morning  still  in  their  fragrance,  or 
a  huge  golden  pineapple. 

Pineapples,  like  poets,  appear  to  the  best 
advantage  at  home.  The  ripe  orange  from 
the  tree  has  a  delicate  atmosphere  of  its 
own,  but  in  substance  is  hardly  better  than 
a  well  ripened  orange  from  the  fruiterer's 
shop.  The  "lush  banana,"  is  never  allowed 
to  ripen  on  the  tree,  as  it  falls  out  of  its 
sheltering  purple  glove  immediately  on 
coming  to  maturity.  Miss  Bremer,  there- 
fore, might  have  "  made  friends "  with  the 
banana,  as  well  in  New  York  as  in  Havana. 
But  the  pineapple  of  Cuba  is  another  crea- 
ture from  that  stringy,  sour,  indigestible 
thing  which  we  tolerate  for  the  chance  of  its 
aroma,  just  as  people  who  have  no  Italian 
read  Hoolvi's  Ariosto.  It  is  as.unquestionably 
the  king  among  tropical  fruits,  as  is  Bur- 
gundy among  the  wines  of  France.  The 
famous  aguacate  is  really  no  fruit,  but  a  veg- 
etable, eatable  only  as  a  salad,  and  of  the 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  149 

daintiest.  The  zapote,  that  potato-faced 
peach,  and  the  mamey,  are  rich  and  sweet, 
but  lack  savor.  And  generally,  the  West 
Indian  fruits  are  decidedly  inferior  in  deli- 
cacy and  pungency  of  flavor  to  the  fruits  of 
the  temperate  zones,  and  of  the  east.  The 
lordly,  aromatic  strawberry,  the  melting 
odoriferous  pear,  the  peach,  that  carries  in 
its  ruddy  heart  such  sweet  memories  of  its 
Persian  home,  "the  cherry  delighting  the 
sense  of  every  man,"  these  are  unrivalled  in 
Cuba.  The  universal  monotone  of  the 
tropics  is  struck  for  the  palate  too.  The 
fruits  lack  piquancy,  as  the  inland  landscape 
almost  invariably  lacks  the  life  of  running 
water. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  exceeding 
beauty  of.  the  Cuban  nights,  and  of  the 
golden  moon,  which  pours  over  the  tropical 
landscape  a  flood  of  luxurious  splendor,quite 
unimaginable  by  those  who  have  but 
watched  her  climb  the  northern  skies  with 
a  wan  face,  and  with  sad  steps.  Beneath 
the  moon,  too,  and  the  stars,  the  night 
glances  with  living  meteors.  The  cucuUos 
13* 


150  GAN-EDEN. 

are  indeed  inconceivably  brilliant.  "  Watch- 
men of  the  insects,"  serenos  de  los  lichos,  a 
lovely  quickwitted  boy  of  four  summers, 
the  child  of  one  of  my  friends,  called  these 
torchbearers,  when  he  first  saw  them ;  and 
flying  in  long  lines,  with  their  double  lights, 
they  do  produce  an  effect  similar  to  that  of 
the  long  processions  of  the  watch  at  Ha- 
vana. They  are  quiet,  however,  in  which 
they  do  not  resemble  those  worthies,  who 
must  be  called  serenos  in  irony,  for  they 
make  night  dreadful  with  periodical  howls, 
much  more  prolonged  and  eloquent  than 
the  similar  uproar  with  which  peace  is 
hourly  proclaimed  at  night  in  Philadelphia. 
The  light  of  the  cucullo  is  really  strong 
enough  to  serve  as  a  candle.  It  is  also  very 
delicate,  a  fine  green  luminousness,  precisely 
like  the  effulgence  which  emeralds  shed 
upon  a  lovely  neck.  But  the  emeralds  of 
inca  or  sultan  may  soon  be  counted,  and  these 
glories  are  showered  indifferently  into  the 
verandah  of  the  noble,  and  the  baracon  of 
the  slave  Children  delight  in  them,  keep- 
ing them  shut  up,  by  forties  and  fifties,  in 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  151 

little  cages  of  reeds.  They  are  carefully 
washed  at  morning  and  night,  and  fed  with 
sugar-cane,  (if  fed  with  sugar  the  saccharine 
particles  adhere  to  their  legs,  and  they  fall 
upon  each  other  like  Kilkenny  cats,)  and  in 
this  way  may  be  kept  alive  and  shining  for 
many  days.  They  have  been  carried  thus 
to  New  York,  and  set  free  in  Broadway  to 
the  great  wonderment  of  the  Gothainites. 
The  nature  of  their  light  I  do  not  know. 
But  all  the  underpart  of  the  body  is  trans- 
parent, and  the  light  appears  to  be  under 
the  cucullo's  control,  flashing  and  failing 
like  the  bottled  up  auroras  of  Professor 

L at  Cambridge. 

The  calm  eternal  stars,  look  hardly  more 
divine  than  these  mortal  stars,  that  seem 
sent  to  cheat  us  poor  moths,  out  of  our 

"  Devotion  to  something  afar 
From  the  sphere  of  our  sorrow," 

into  a  desire  for  more  accessible,  though 
more  evanescent,  joys.  Once  I  caught  some 
and  gave  them  to  a  little  girl,  who  forth- 
with hung  them  around  her  light  dress,  say- 


152  GAN-EDEN. 

ing,  that  "  God  had  made  them  with  hooks 
to  fasten  on  little  girl's  dresses."  An  inde- 
feasible inference !  the  hooks  are  certainly 
there. 

Did  God  also  make  mahogany  trees  to  be 
hacked  into  canoes  ?  One  day  I  saw  a 
couple  of  Africans  hewing  away,  to  convert 
a  noble  mahogany  trunk  into  a  mere  vulgar 
"  dug-out."  Probably  Mr.  Ruskin  would  call 
the  destiny  of  that  trunk  more  divine,  in 
being  true  as  an  honest,  clumsy  dug-out, 
than  in  coming  with  a  smooth  and  var- 
nished face,  as  the  deceitful  veneering  of  a 
pinewood  table,  to  cherish  dyspepsia  and 
scandal  in  polite  society  ! 


155 


CHAPTER   XII. 

"Ho!  ho!  "  cried  Orlando,  "you  too  are  for  throwing  stones,  are 

yOU?"      MOKGAKTE   MAGGIOKE. 

NORTHERN  life  is  not  all  peaches  and  roses. 
Neither,  alas !  is  the  life  of  the  tropics  only 
pineapples  and  pleasant  breathing.  To  me, 
Cuba  was,  in  the  main,  a  garden  of  delight, 
"  where  my  heart  was  dilated,  and  my 
anxiety  ceased."  And  so  far  I  have  recorded 
chiefly  the  delectable  impressions  which  I 
retain  of  the  island.  Were  I  writing  of  an- 
cient Iceland  or  modern  Tongataboo,  I  might 
forbear  handling  more  painful  themes,  ob- 
serving a  discreet  silence  concerning  Snor- 
ro's  little  weakness  of  piracy,  and  Amekam- 
eha's  passion  for  foreign  flesh.  When  we 
think  of  the  Caliph  in  Gan-Eden,  why  need 
we  remember  Sheikh  Ibrahim,  preparing 
slight  bastinadoes  for  improper  characters  at 
the  gate  ?  But  there  are  Cubans  in  Cuba, 


154  GAN-EDEN. 

and  it  is  of  no  slight  importance  to  under- 
stand what  manner  of  men  they  are.  As 
they  seemed  to  me,  so  I  must  describe  them  ; 
if  need  be,  "  throwing  stones."  I  beg  thee, 
reader,  to  believe  that  I  am  led  to  this  task 
by  no  such  instinct  as  sometimes  constrains 
the  mildest  of  boys  to  "  have  a  shy  "  at  the 
meekest  of  cats,  when  he  sees  her  conspicu- 
ous on  a  shed  in  the  sun.  That  Marid  and 
taskmaster  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  "a 
sense  of  duty,"  is  the  responsible  party. 
Consequently  I  shall  be  as  faithful  in  the 
work  as  I  am  reluctant  to  commence  it. 

When  the  brave  town  of  Marblehead  lay 
beyond  the,,  borders  of  civilization,  every 
'  bewildered  traveller  who  mistook  that  mu- 
niripul  blind  alley  for  a  thoroughfare,  used 
to  be  greeted  with  a  savage  salaam  of  siza- 
ble pebbles,  accompanied  with  the  intima- 
tion that  a  small  pecuniary  tribute  was  in- 
dispensable. Cuba  offered  me  tribute  before 
I  evinced  any  hostile  disposition.  Had  I 
exacted  of  all  the  Creoles  I  happened  to 
meet,  a  just  discharge  of  all  their  promises, 
I  should  now  be  a  large  landholder  in  the 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  155 

island,  and  possess  horses  enough  to  mount 
a  regiment.  But  the  remembrance  of  all 
those  unliquidated  obligations  shall  not,  I 
hope,  delay  or  divert  my  hand. 

Of  course,  Cuba  has  great  distinctions  of 
society.  There,  in  the  first  place,  is  the  vast 
gulf  between  white  and  black  Cuba.  Of  the 
darker  side  of  that  gulf  I  shall  hereafter 
speak.  I  have  to  deal  now  with  the  grada- 
tions of  life  in  white  Cuba. 

The  whites  in  Cuba  numbering,  I  suppose, 
(for  nobody  exactly  knows,)  about  four  hun- 
dred thousand  souls/'5  are  divided  primarily 
into  old  Spaniards,  or  Peninsulars,  and  Cre- 
oles. The  old  Spaniards  fill  all  the  offices 
of  the  island,  and  transact  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  its.  commercial  affairs. 

The  mother  country  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  applying  her  sons,  like  leeches,  to  the 
bodies  of  her  colonies,  and  the  successive 
generations  of  old  Spaniards  have  come 
upon  the  Indies,  like  those  great  waves  of 
barbaric  invasion  which  swept  over  the 

*  The  unreliable  census  of  1849,  says  457,132. 


156  GAN-EDEN. 

Eoman  Empire.  Naturally  enough  the  old 
Spaniard  looks  down  upon  the  Creole  with 
the  contempt  of  a  conqueror.  Not  less  nat- 
urally the  Creole  regards  his  kinsmen  of  Cas- 
tile with  a  sort  of  spiteful  aversion.  The 
bright-eyed  boy  at  the  cafe  curls  his  full  lip 
with  scorn, when  you  ask  him  if  he  was  born 
in  Cuba,  and  his  shrill  treble  grows  a  clarion 
in  the  reply,  "  No,  Senor !  soy  Asturiano  !  " 
The  judge  on  the  bench,  the  beaten  soldier 
at  the  barracks,  assume  towards  the  native  of 
the  island,  something  of  the  port  with  which 
an  Alvarado  or  a  Sandoval  imposed  respect 
upon  the  defeated  Aztec.  But  the  Spanish 
superiority  does  not  consume  itself  in  sneers 
and  airs.  The  old  Spaniards  monopolize  the 
most  profitable  traffic.  The  Catalans,  the 
yankees  of  old  Spain,  the  hard-headed, 
shrewd  Catalans,  faithful  to  their  motto  of 
"five  years  of  privations,  and  a  fortune," 
are  to  be  found  in  every  town  and  hamlet, 
and  in  every  stage  of  social  development, 
from  the  domestic  grub,  toilsomely  outspin- 
ning  the  brilliant  cocoon  that  is  to  be,  up  or 
down  to  the  gay  and  gorgeous  butterfly  of 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  157 

the  second  generation,  rejoicing  in  the  sun- 
shine of  fashionable  life.  The  Catalans  are 
generally  very  loyal,  for  they  enjoy  a  num- 
ber of  monopolies  which,  like  all  monopolists, 
they  blindly  and  ignorantly  cherish,  to  the 
serious  injury  of  Cuba.  Political  economy 
in  Spain  seems  to  be  just  abreast  with  the 
wisdom  of  the  age  of  Walpole.  For  instance, 
the  flour  monopoly  so  protects  the  exporters 
of  Ferrol  and  Santander,  that  the  wheat  of 
northern  Spain,  originally  very  good,  is 
forced  upon  the  Cuban  markets,  after  under- 
going voyages  of  such  a  length,  that  one  can 
only  account  for  them,  by  supposing  that 
each  captain,  on  every  trip,  has  to  find 
the  new  world  all  over  again,  without  refer- 
ence to  Columbus  !  It  was  the  loyal  Cata- 
lans who  clamored  most  loudly  for  the  exe- 
cution of  the  foolish  and  unfortunate  men 
of  the  Lopez  expedition.  General  Concha 
was  forced  to  threaten  the  Catalan  leaders 
in  order  to  restrain  their  indiscreet  zeal. 
What  nerves  indeed  are  so  sensitive  as  those 
of  trade  ?  Governments,  not  royal,  have  not 
disdained  to  embrace  the  patriotism  which 
14 


158  GAN-EDEN. 

started  into  life  at  the  first  thrill  of  a  pecu- 
niary panic ! 

More  irreconcilably  hostile  than  the  mer- 
chants to  the  Creole  population,  are  the 
old  Spanish  officials.  It  is  really  hard  to 
exaggerate  the  extent  to  which  bribery  and 
corruption  are  carried  among  these  persons, 
or  the  annoyances  to  which  the  unprotected 
natives  are  subjected  at  the  hands  of  Dog- 
berrys  clothed  with  more  or  less  authority. 
At  Havana,  it  is  notoriously  impossible  to 
procure  any  paper  of  importance  at  the 
government  house,  without  employing  an 
agente  or  general  broker,  a  limited  number 
of  whom  are  licensed  by  the  government. 
I  tried  the  experiment  myself  of  applying 
personally  for  a  certain  document,  but  after 
dancing  attendance  for  nearly  a  week  in 
the  large  and  little  rooms  of  the  Palace,  I 
gave  it  up  and  put  the  matter  into  the  hands 
of  an  agente,  who  within'  the  day  brought 
me  the  required  parchment  stamped  con- 
spicuously with  the  word  gratis,  and  de- 
manded seven  dollars  as  the  price  thereof! 
These  fees  are  of  course  divided  with  the 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  159 

subordinates  at  the  Palace.  The  whole 
thing  is  in  the  purest  oriental  taste,  but  one 
must  be  very  immoral  to  enjoy  it. 

Throughout  the  country, the  "paternal" 
government  is  as  affectionately  ivatchful  over 
the  people  as  a  duenna  aunt  over  a  pretty 
niece,  and  as  judiciously  firm  as  an  old-fash- 
ioned schoolmaster.  Englishmen  and  Amer- 
icans, more  accustomed  to  worry  than  to  be 
worried  by  their  governments,  can  hardly 
bring  themselves  to  believe  in  the  reality  of 
such  an  incessant,  inquisitive,  undignified 
tyranny  as  prevails  wherever  a  "  strong  gov- 
ernment "  is  "  maintaining  order."  I  knew 
one  man,  whose  small  property  happened  to 
lie  on  the  road  taken  by  a  party  of  troops 
conveying  some  miserable  prisoners  of  the 
Lopez  "army"  to  Havana.  One  of  these 
captives  fell  by  the  way,  and  was  left  to  die. 
Found  by  some  negroes,  the  dying  man  was 
visited  by  the  planter  of  whom  I  speak,  car- 
ried to  his  house  and  cared  for.  He,  how- 
ever, soon  died.  This  act  of  humanity  being 
illegal,  the  planter  became  a  marked  man. 
Military  requisitions  of  carts  were  made 


160  GAN-EDEN. 

upon  him  in  the  height  of  the  grinding 
season,  vexatious  searches,  and  all  sorts  of 
small  annoyances  inflicted  upon  him.  Nat- 
urally enough,  the  object  of  this  despicable 
persecution  sometimes  gave  vent  to  his  feel- 
ings in  injudicious  language.  The  doctrine 
of  "constructive  treason"  being  thoroughly 
understood  in  Cuba,  he  was  at  last  arrested, 
carried  to  Havana,  and  was  lying  tnere  in 
prison  when  I  left  the  island. 

Visiting  the  house  of  a  friend  one  day,  in 
the  country,  I  found  there  an  old  woman 
wrinkled  as  only  Spanish  Creoles  can  be 
wrinkled,  who  was  tearfully  discoursing 
about  her  imprisoned  son,  whom  she  had 
that  day  for  the  first  time  been  allowed  to 
see.  The  youth,  it  seemed,  was  alone  in  a 
damp,  dirty  cell,  and  compelled  to  eat  his 
vile  meals  without  so  much  as  a  spoon.  His 
poor  old  mother  told  us  she  had  been  at 
work  all  day,  carving  out  two  little  wooden 
spoons  for  him.  "  Muy  bien  hechas,"  "  very 
well  made,"  she  said  they  were;  and  who 
would  wish  to  doubt  it?  My  heart  was 
moved  by  the  poor  creature's  story,  but  I 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  161 

forbore  to  ask  any  questions  while  she  was 
present,  for  what  a  dreadful  creature,  what 
a  Cuban  Jack  Sheppard,  laughing  like  love 
at  locksmiths,  and  rich  in  resources  as  Monte 
Cristo's  Abbe,  must  that  criminal  be,  who 
was  thought  capable  of  making  his  way 
through  a  stone  wall  with  a  German  silver 
teaspoon!  To  my  amazement,  my  friend 
informed  me  that  the  prisoner  was  a  lad  re- 
markable only  for  his  poverty  of  spirit,  a 
flat  fool  in  short,  who  lived  on  an  estate  only 
as  an  incumbrance  attached  to  his  father  the 
overseer.  This  poor  numbskull,  going  to 
the  Tienda,  thought  to  give  himself  impor- 
tance among  the  open-mouthed  monteros,  by 
announcing  that  an  American  fleet  had  been 
seen  off  Cape  Antonio,  bringing  a  mighty 
army  to  avenge  Las  Pozas !  For  this  silly 
lie,  the  boy  had  then  been  incarcerated  more 
than  five  months !  and  might  be  for  years, 
since  even  in  the  regular  course  of  law,  a 
trial  is  no  necessary  consequence  of  an  ar- 
rest, and  the  military  authorities,  right  or 
wrong,  think  it  always  best  to  make  their 
mark  on  their  prizes. 

14* 


162  GAN-EDEN. 

In  another  particle,  a  lawyer  of  eminence 
arrested  at  his  own  house  in  the  night,  re- 
mained four  months  in  prison,  incomumcado, 
allowed,  that  is,  to  see  no  one.  At  the  end 
of  that  time,  with  no  explanations  given,  he 
was  turned  out,  and  sent  home,  to  find  his 
wife  dead,  and  his  affairs  in  complete  dis- 
order. 

A  Brazilian  gentleman,  deputed  by  his 
government  to  examine  the  sugar  and  to- 
bacco culture,  happened  in  the  course  of  his 
journeys  to  stay  in  my  neighborhood,  with 
a  Creole  of  high  intelligence,  who  was  sus- 
pected of  republicanism,  and  convicted  of 
manliness  and  independence.  This  was 
enough  to  bring  suspicion  on  the  envoy  of 
a  friendly  empire,  who  was  summoned  be- 
fore the  Capitan  de  Partido.  After  many 
absurd  questions,  "Why  don't  you  study 
tobacco-growing  in  the  United  States?" 
asked  fhe  official.  "Perhaps  I  shall,"  an- 
swered the  shrewd  Brazilian,  "  but  I  dislike 
the  institutions  of  that  country  so  much  that 
I  am  in  no  hurry  to  go  there  ! "  This  was 
enough.  The  examination  came  to  a  pleas- 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  163 

ant  ending,  not  without  the  offer  and  accept- 
ance of  a  "  token  of  regard." 

No  man  can  be  trusted  with  irresponsible 
power,  and  the  system  which  multiplies 
petty  authorities  beyond  the  reach  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  must  entail  upon  any  country 
the  curse  which  weighs  on  Cuba.  To  sup- 
port the  army  which  keeps  this  swarm  of 
functionaries  safe,  the  Cubans  are  taxed 
much  more  heavily  than  any  other  civilized 
people.* 

From  the  officials,  who  aptly  enough  sup- 
ply the  places  of  the  venomous  and  annoy- 
ing insects  from  which  Cuba  is  singularly 
free,  I  pass  to  that  great  body  of  the  natives 
on  which  they  feed. 

The  first  conquerors  of  Cuba,  like  Harri- 
son at  Naseby  field,  "did  not  their  work 
negligently."  The  name  of  the  second  com- 
mercial city  of  the  island,  Matanzas,  or  the 
Massacres,  commemorates,  it  is  said,  the  last 

*  For  full  details  of  the  despotic  administration,  and  of  the 
taxation  of  Cuba,  which,  as  there  stated,  amounts  in  the  gross  to 
about  2^  per  cent,  per  annum,  on  $800,000,000,  the  total  of 
property  in  the  island,  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  excellent  work 
entitled  "  Cuba  and  the  Cubans,"  published  at  New  York  in  1850. 


164  GAN-EDEN.. 

of  the  great  slaughters  which  overtook  the 
idolatrous  Indians,  who  were  so  profane  as 
to  object  to  the  combined  gift  of  slavery  and 
salvation  which  the  Christians  proffered 
them.  The  trooper's  sword  and  the  miner's 
spade  evangelized  Cuba,  and  the  present 
natives  of  the  island,  unlike  the  hybrid 
peons  of  the  continent,  are  of  pure  Spanish 
blood.  The  twenty-two  cities  or  towns  of 
some  size  Avhich  exist  in  the  island,  contain  a 
fair  proportion  of  these  -Creoles,  a  few  more 
are  scattered  over  the  great  haciendas  or 
estates  of  the  sugar  and  coffee  planters ;  but 
the  great  majority  of  the  native  born  whites 
is  to  be  found  on  the  vegas  and  tobacco 
farms,  in  the  villages  and  hamlets  of  the  in- 
terior. These  are  the  people  who  must  give 
to  Cuba  its  chief  national  peculiarities.  The 
planters,  of  course,  give  tone  to  the  highest 
ranks  of  Cuban  society.  To  their  number 
belong  the  thirty  or  forty  marquises  and 
counts  of  Cuba,  the  "  sugar  nobles,"  as  the 
old  Spaniards  call  them  in  disdain,  though 
one  might  suppose  that  if  blood  may  be 
used  to  clarify-  sugar,  sugar  may  reasonably 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  165 

enough  be  used  to  clarify  blood,  and  it  is  hard 
to  see  why  a  title  honestly  bought  with  good 
gold  doubloons  is  not  quite  as  good  a  thing 
as  a  title  taken  by  force  of  arms,  or  pur- 
chased by  worse  than  menial  services  ren- 
dered to  some  vulgar  sensual  prince.  Closely 
allied  with  the  planters  are  the  great  Creole 
merchants.  Often  very  opulent,  these  Cre- 
oles of  the  first  rank  are  almost  always 
distinguished  for  the  easy  courtesy  of  their 
manners,  and  for  the  genial  hospitality  of 
their  households.  Nor  are  they  wanting  in 
enterprise.  Cuba,  in  the  matter  of  railways, 
may  compare  favorably  with  many  of  the 
American  States,  and  the  railways  are  the 
result  of  Creole  energy  and  enterprise.  The 
Creole  planters  are  indefatigable  in  their 
efforts  to  improve  their  estates,  and  to  de- 
velop the  resources  of  their  magnificent 
island.  No  one  of  the  Southern  States  can 
show  a  finer,  few  can  show  so  fine  a  body  of 
intelligent  and  well-bred  gentlemen  as  the 
haciendas  and  the  cities  of  Cuba  may  be 
justly  proud  of  possessing.  The  women  of 
this  class  generally  exhibit  those  qualities 


166  GAN-EDEN. 

of  warm  and  devoted  affection  which  so 
.universally  adorn  the  female  history  of  the 
Spanish  race.  But  the  imperfection  of  their 
education,  in  many  cases,  and  in  many  more 
the  absence  of  noble  incitements  to  mental 
and  moral  activity,  condemns  these  fine  na- 
tures to  a  life  which  withers  and  wastes 
their  best  energies.  From  these  higher 
classes  of  Cuban  society  have  come  the  most 
enlightened  and  fervent  advocates  of  Cuban 
liberty  and  independence.  Were  we  to 
judge  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  re- 
sources of  the  island,  by  the  proofs,  with 
which  the  poets,  patriots,  and  orators  of  this 
class  have  furnished  us,  of  cultivated  powers 
and  lofty  aspirations,  we  should  go  far  be- 
yond the  mark.  With  the  exception  of  the 
extraordinary  mulatto  of  Matanzas,  Placido,* 
all  those  Cubans  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  generously,  in  literature  or  in  life, 
belong  to  the  planting  or  urbane  classes. 
The  multitudinous  hamlets  and  villages, 
the  ancient  vegas  of  the  interior,  have  given 
us  neither  song  nor  speech.  This  fact  is 

*  And  Placido  himself,  it  will  be  seen,  was  a  citizen. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  167 

ominously  significant,  nor  does  a  closer  in- 
vestigation, dispel  its  significance. 

In  all  the  island  in  1840,  out  of  more  than 
ninety  thousand  free  children,  only  nine 
thousand  attended  any  school,  and  of  these 
only  one  third  were  educated  at  the  public  ex- 
pense, that  is  to  say,  had  their  ears  pulled  and 
were  beaten  by  certain  incompetent  friars. 
The  much  abused  Turks  are  not  more  illit- 
erate than  the  rural  Cubans.  Newspapers 
only  reach  the  interior  in  the  form  of  wrap- 
pers. Dr.  Wurdeman  tells  us  of  one  yeo- 
man, well-to-do  in  the  world,  who  had  bought 
a  school  geography  from  a  peddler  for  twenty- 
five  dollars,  kept  it  ostentatiously  in  sight, 
and  professed  to  have  learned  therein  that 
the  English  and  Americans  were  the  most 
notorious  stabbers  in  the  world !  This  man 
must  have  been  a  superfluous  hypocrite,  for 
most  of  his  fellows  have  a  fine  scorn  of  let- 
ters. My  friend told  me  one  day  that 

a  neighbor  of  his  had  just  been  condoling 
with  him  about  his  insane  visitor ;  insane  I 
must  be,  it  was  clear,  for  I  had  been  seen 
very  often,  reading  a  book  in  the  verandah ! 


168  GAN-EDEN. 

Great  as  is  my  respect  for  books,  I  do  not 
regard  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet  as  es- 
sential to  human  excellence.  Charlemagne 
contrived  to  make  his  mark  tolerably  intel- 
ligible, long  before  he  could  write  his  name, 
and  Ccesar  Borgia  was  a  better  scholar  than 
John  Bunyan.  The  ignorance  of  the  Cuban 
mind  would  be  far  from  hopeless,  were  the 
Cuban  heart  enlightened  by  that  sweet 
knowledge,  of  which  all  the  lore  of  the 
brain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  the  very  humble 
slave  and  servant.  But  this  is  not  so.  The 
education  of  the  popular  heart  and  con- 
science belongs  chiefly,  of  course,  to  the 
church.  And  the  church  in  Cuba  has  prac- 
tically abdicated  its  spiritual  functions.  The 
tyrannical  ostentation  of  religious  uniformity 
is  indeed  kept  up,  all  Protestant  settlers 
being  obliged  to  abjure  their  faith  before 
their  oath  of  allegiance  can  be  received; 
perjury  opening  the  door  for  loyalty  to  walk 
in.  But  the  majority  of  the  Cubans  hardly 
give  themselves  the  pains  to  pretend  to  an 
interest  in  church  matters.  The  attendance 
on  the  church  services  is  usually  meagre. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  169 

The  newspapers  indeed,  in  the  dearth  of 
vmmaculate  matter  for  their  rigidly  expur- 
gated columns,  devote  a  goodly  space  every 
morning  to  compendious  biographies  of  the 
saints  of  the  day.  But  the  people  who  read 
the  newspapers,  the  merchants  and  men  of 
business,  are  rarely  seen  within  the  church 
walls.  Were  it  not  for  the  zeal  "devoti 
fseminei  sexus,"  as  good  San  Carlo  Borromeo 
long  since  called  them,  the  Havana  churches 
would  be  as  empty  as  San  Stefano  Rotondo, 
or  any  other  of  those  stranded  old  Roman 
ships  of  faith,  which  lie  so  high  and  dry," 
beached  on  shores  from  which  the  tides  of 
human  life  receded  centuries  ago.  Neither 
painting  nor  music,  nor  the  mere  magnifi- 
cence of  gold  and  jewels,  invests  the  ritual 
of  Cuba  with  attractive  pomp.  And  what 
is  so  dismal  as  shabby  Romanism,  the  "  scar- 
let woman  "  in  rags  and  tatters  ?  The  old 
French  Encyclopedic  reviles  the  church  in 
Cuba,  for  being  so  u  revoltingly  rich."  The 
riches  have  taken  unto  themselves  wings, 
and  though  a  few  of  the  dignitaries  still 
enjoy  large  incomes,  the  scanty  revenues  of 
15 


170  GAN-EDEN. 

the  church  greatly  limit  its  power  for  good, 
and  aggravate  its  worst  influences.  The 
church  in  Italy,  or  in  Austria,  is  like  Thack- 
eray's Louis  le  Grand,  stately  in  high-heeled 
shoes  and  nodding  periwig,  glittering  with 
the  factitious  kingliness  of  velvet  coats  and 
diamond  stars ;  the  church  in  Cuba  resem- 
bles the  same  Louis,  diminished  in  shuffling 
slippers,  and  with  bowed  bald  head  shaking 
above  his  withered  and  decrepid  limbs. 
This  primitive  simplicity  of  the  rural  church 
however,  only  affects  the  externals  of  things. 
Well  says  straightforward  old  Chaucer,  "a 
foul  priest  cannot  make  a  clean  parish."  Of 
course  there  are  worthy  and  well-conducted 
men  among  the  village  curas  of  Cuba,  but 
in  general  the  cura  is  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
civil  officer,  and  he  thinks  as  little  of  utter- 
ing, as  his  people  do  of  hearing,  homilies. 
Often  he  is  only  the  best  boon  companion 
in  his  district,  and  the  will  of  Gregory  the 
Great  seems  to  have  been  set  aside  by  the 
common  consent  of  clergy  and  people.  One 
cannot  wonder  at  the  impulse  which  revolts 
from  the  unnatural  and  corrupting  asceti- 


PICTURES    OP    CUBA.  171 

cism  of  the  Roman  Church,  but  it  certainly 
is  a  great  misfortune  for  any  country  that 
its  religious  teachers  should  be  constantly 
living  in  open  violation  of  one  of  the  most 
sacred  rules  of  their  order.  In  truth,  there 
seems  to  be  a  tacit  understanding  between 
the  priests  and  the  people,  that  neither  shall 
trouble  the  other ;  the  curas  laugh  and  look 
after  their  nieces,  their  nephews,  and  their 
farms;  the  Monteros  laugh,  tram  fighting 
cocks,  dance,  blaspheme,  make  love,  and 
play  at  monte.  An  oppressive  government 
and  a  tempting  climate  complete  the  edu- 
cation of  the  yeomanry,  for  so  we  may  ren- 
der the  title  of  monteros,  which  is  given  to 
the  rural  whites.  Is  it  hard  to  imagine 
the  result  ?  The  Condesa  de  Merlin,  an  en- 
tertaining Cuban  Scheherezade,  who  was  by 
no  means  critical  in  her  collation  of  author- 
ities, once  gave  an  account  of  the  monteros, 
which  resembled  the  reality  of  montero  life 
and  character,  just  about  as  closely  as  Made- 
moiselle de  Scuderi's  Persians  resembled  the 
friends  and  followers  of  the  great  Cyrus. 
According  to  her,  the  montero  cavalier  was 


172  GAN-EDEN. 

a  true  knight  and  pilgrim  of  love,  able  to 
ride  fabulous  distances,  on  steeds  noble  and 
dear  as  Bavieca,  outwatching  the  stars,  and 
with  his  lute  "  striking  ladies  into  trouble, 
as  his  sword  struck  men  to  death."  Done 
into  pretty  French,  the  Condesa's  rich  ro- 
mance perfumed  all  the  saloons  of  Paris. 
The  altars  of  Chateaubriand  and  St.  Pierre, 
of  Paul  and  Chactas  smoked  again.  Scoff- 
ing debauchery,  gante  beurre  frais,  raved 
about  the  majestic  silence,  and  primeval 
passion  of  the  tropic  forest,  to  sentimental 
insincerity  in  gauze.  Nature,  gayly  cos- 
tumed and  scented  with  the  south,  became 
presentable  and  even  fashionable.  The  Cu- 
ban guagiro  was  not  less  fascinating  than 
Fra  Diavolo.  With  him,  with  the  Mexican 
jarocho,  and  the  Chilian  pincheyra,  the  New 
World  was  no  longer  savage.  Less  roman- 
tic and  more  scrupulous  writers  than  the 
Condesa,  have  yet  painted  the  montero  in 
the  warm  hues  with  which  the  tropics  had 
charged  their  palettes.  A  kindly  man, 
travelling  from  hospitality  to  hospitality, 
and  conscious  every  day  of  new  vigor  in 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  173 

every  organ,  new  ease  in  the  discharge  of 
every .  physical  function,  naturally  enough 
pours  something  of  his  own  inward  delight 
over  every  thing  which  he  meets  and  sees. 
But  those  who  are  thrown,  by  the  necessities 
of  their  position,  into  daily  contact  with  a 
people,  are  the  safest  guides,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  all  the  planters  I  ever  knew,  goes 
to  confirm  the  inferences  I  drew  from  my 
own  observation,  in  regard  to  the  montero 
and  lower  Creole  character.  I  need  not 
dwell  upon  the  stories  that  are  everywhere 
current,  of  the  occasional  brigandage  to 
which  the  natives  resort.  Authentic  in- 
stances came  within  my  own  knowledge  of 
organizations  formed  for  the  purpose  of  high- 
way robbery  by  individuals  of  considerable 
standing.  In  one  case,  the  leading  lawyer 
of  a  certain  town  was  discovered  to  be  the 
chief  of  a  set  of  banditti  who  had  ravaged 
the  adjacent  country,  and  had  actually 
stormed  and  taken  one  hamlet  and  storehouse 
of  respectable  size.  This  lawyer  being 
brought  to  trial,  escaped  by  oiling  the  hands 
of  justice.  His  fortune  went  to  Spain  in 
15* 


174  GAN-EDEN. 

remittances  from  certain  functionaries.  He 
himself  had  leave  to  go  to  Mexico.  His 
brother  sold  his  estate  to  a  friend  of  mine, 
who,  on  removing  the  barn,  found  six  skele- 
tons quietly  disposed  beneath  the  floors. 
These  instances  might  be  paralleled,  I  know, 
nearer  home.*  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  monteros  generally,  entertain  ideas 
with  regard  to  the  intrinsic  propriety  of  pi- 
racy and  robbery,  much  more  in  accordance 
with  the  theory  and  practice  of  the  ancient 
Greeks,  than  of  any  modern  people  of  the 
west.  General  Tacon,  in  the  universal 
sweep  which  he  made  of  all  the  liberties  of 
Cuba,  included  the  freedom  of  the  road,  and 
at  present,  those  who  go  to  Cuba  with  the 
expectation  of  seeing  gentlemen  drop  sud- 
denly dead  in  the  archways  of  the  city,  or 
of  surrendering  their  own  purses  to  a  Claude 
Duval  in  leggings,  will  probably  be  disap- 
pointed. How  much  of  the  present  security 
of  the  roads  is  due  to  the  energetic  police 
force,  and  how  much  to  the  prevalent  im- 
pression that  firearms  in  the  hands  of  an 

*  As,  for  instance,  in  the  "  Martha  Washington  "  case. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  *  175 

Englishman  or  American,  are  dangerous  and 
deadly  things,  it  would  be  invidious  to 
inquire. 

Indolent,  beyond  conception,  the  montero 
certainly  is.  His  rule  of  v action  is,  "Never 
do  to-day  what  you  can  possibly  put  off  till 
to-morrow."  That  cabalistic  word  "Maria- 
na," "To-morrow,"  which  comes  upon  the 
fiery  northman's  impatience  from  every 
Spanish  lip,  like  the  calm  rebuke  of  the 
Egyptian's  patient  eyes,  is  ten  times  more 
appalling*  in  the  Creole  mouth.  You  feel 
that  to  contend  with  it  would  be  like  dash- 
ing yourself  against  the  barred  doors  of 
destiny. 

Nor  is  it  much  easier  to  load  a  restive 
mule,  than  to  lay  a  responsibility  upon  the 
shoulders  of  a  montero.  His  word  is  his 
slave.  He  is  as  cunning  as  Clovis,  and  as 
false  as  Lok.  Yet  one  can  understand  how 
the  montero  contrives  to  leave  such  a  pleas- 
ant impression  on  the  minds  of  careless  and 
contented  travellers.  He  has  a  ready  smile, 
a  "well-placed  word  of  glozing  courtesy," 
wrarm  with  the  phrases  of  the  Moor,  always 


176  OAN-EDEN. 

at  his  command.  Rarely  is  the  montero 
surly  or  quarrelsome.  The  easy  audacity 
of  his  bearing  is  even  attractive.  The  very 
boys  are  lordly  in  their  laziness.  Wander- 
ing over  the  tufted  hills,  you  catch  sight  of 
a  fine  clump  of  cocoa  palms,  and  your  heated 
palate  craves  the  refreshment  which  nature 
has  hung  up  yonder  in  those  unsightly  cups. 
You  look  around  you,  and  meet  the  flashing 
eyes  of  a  hatless,  shoeless  urchin,  just  such 
a  brown,  white-toothed,  glowing  creature  as 
Murillo  loved,  lying  in  the  shade  of  a  broken 
wall.  You  hail  Lazarillo  and  tempt  him 
with  silver.  He  rises  to  his  feet,  with  such 
a  languid  grace  !  puts  his  fingers  to  his  lips, 
and  with  one  shrill  whistle  brings  his  father's 
only  slave  from  the  patch  of  land  hard  by, 
sends  him  up  the  smooth,  difficult  mast,  and 
before  you  have  recovered  from  your  sur- 
prise, offers  you  half  a  dozen  of  the  won- 
drous nuts ! 

Fond  of  cheap  vices,  and  proud  of  cheap 
virtues,  superstitious  waiters  upon  Provi- 
dence in  all  matters  of  business,  and  bold 
blasphemers  on  the  slightest  provocation, 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  177 

the  monteros  have  so  little  weight  of  char- 
acter, that  they  can  inspire  in  each  other  no 
mutual  confidence.  I  should  judge  them  to 
be  as  incapable  of  maintaining  a  free  and 
orderly  polity,  as  were  the  Hindoos  before 
the  English  conquest.  In  the  event  of  any 
political  commotion,  it  is  clear  that  the  mon- 
tero  would  side  with  the  gods  rather  than 
with  Cato.  They  hate  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, but  dread  the  chances  of  an  insurrec- 
tion. Individually,  I  dare  say  the  monteros 
are  not  deficient  in  bravery,  but  regimented 
they  must  form  a  despicable  militia,  revers- 
ing the  character  of  the  French,  who  like 
grains  of  gunpowder,  however  sputtering 
they  may  be  as  units,  are  terrific  in  masses. 
Physically,  the  monteros  are  by  no  means 
an  ill-looking  race,  though  decidedly  inferior, 
as  are  the  Creoles  in  general,  I  think,  to  the 
natives  of  old  Spain.  Whether  it  be  true 
or  not,  that  the  European  races  degenerate 
physically  in  the  New  World,  is  a  question 
not  here  to  be  discussed.  Certain  it  is  that 
the  Creoles  are  slighter  in  frame  than  the 
Peninsulars,  that  the  common  tones  of  the 


178  GAN-EDEN. 

Creole  voice  are  less  full  and  musical  than 
those  of  the  Spanish,  and  that  the  Creole 
has  lost  something  of  the  direct,  vivid  glance 
of  the  Celtiberian  race,  a  loss  which  is  per- 
haps counterbalanced  by  the  richer,  softer 
beauty  of  the  Creole  eyes.  In  the  rural 
districts,  where  the  practice  of  shaving  is 
very  general,  I  was  struck  with  the  preva- 
lence of  an  Irish  type  of  face.  The  Irish 
face  of  Kerry  pleads  strongly  for  the  Mile- 
sian claims  of  the  sons  of  Erin.  But  the 
Irish  type  I  recognized  in  Cuba,  is  that  more 
common,  heavier,  and  less  attractive  type 
which  all  the  world  hails  as  belonging  to 
the  "finest  pisintry  on  the  earth."  The 
montero,  as  you  meet  him  riding  along  the 
Cuban  roads,  if  roads  they  may  be  called, 
forms  a  striking  feature  in  the  novel  land- 
scape. Mounted  on  the  small,  sturdy,  pacing 
horse  of  the  country,  and  sitting  in  his  huge 
high-peaked  saddle  as  carelessly  as  if  in  a 
cart,  his  brown  skin,  his  wrought  shirt,  and 
baggy  trowsers  red  with  the  dust  of  the  soil, 
the  montero,  though  by  no  means  romantic, 
is  certainly  picturesque.  His  slouching  som- 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  179 

brero  flaps  solemnly  downward  over  his  nose ; 
his  stockingless,  saintly  *  feet  thrust  into  yel- 
lowish deerskin  sandals,  dangle  in  the  heavy 
stirrups,  and  seem  drawn  backwards  by  the 
weight  of  his  massive  silver  spurs  ;  the  long, 
straight,  silver-hilted  machete  jingles  against 
the  rows  of  silver  buttons,  sometimes  in  the 
shape  of  silver  coin,  that  adorn  the  seams 
of  his  coarse  trowsers.  Our  montero  is 
plainly  of  the  mind  of  that  fashionable  lady, 
who  said  she  could  easily  dispense  with  the 
necessaries  of  life,  but  not  with  its  luxuries. 
He  must  have  his  finery.  This  trait  of  his 
character  makes  the  fortune  of  the  Catalan 
traders  who  keep  the  Tiendas  of  the  inte- 
rior. Many  a  village  whose  high-sounding 
name  smacks  of  old  Castile  or  fair  Granada 
is  indeed  of  the  proportions  of  Martin  Chuz- 
zlewit's  Eden.  Two  or  three  warehouses, 
and  a  Tienda,  are  sufficient  to  constitute  a 
hamlet  whither  the  monteros  from  miles 
around  shall  daily  resort.  There  they  lounge 
away  the  mornings,  their  horses  tethered 

*  The  Selloi  at  Dodona  gloried  in  being,  avnrrcmodef;  and  who 
ever  saw  a  clean  Capuchin  ? 


180  GAN-EDEN. 

all  around  the  stone-floored  piazza,  and 
themselves  hanging  about  the  counters 
within,  drinking  aguardiente,  (the  "  slow, 
sweet,  Spanish  name "  for  rum,)  smoking 
cigar  after  cigar,  jockeying,  betting,  and 
talking  scandal.  How  many  times  has  the 
painful  idea  seized  me,  a  sort  of  mental 
stitch  in  the  side,  as  I  rode  away  from  one 
of  these  barefooted,  barefaced,  disreputable 
assemblies,  that  the  noisiest  and  most  voluble 
Sir  Oracle  of  them  all,  might  perhaps,  at  no 
distant  day,  be  inflicted  upon  our  own  unfor- 
tunate Congress,  as  a  representative  from  the 
sovereign  State  of  Cuba! 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

"  By  your  leave,  sweet  welkin,  I  must  sigh  in  your  face." 

LOVE'S  LABOR  LOST. 

MAN  is  at  once  the  crown  and  the  curse 
of  earth.  Human  love  may  lend  perfume 
to  Paradise  itself;  human  hate  may  make 
the  desert  more  dreadful.  Not  for  their 
snow  are  the  wastes  of  Siberia  most  fearful ; 
deadlier  vapors  than  rise  from  her  swamps, 
taint  the  sweet  airs  of  the  South.  Within 
the  shadow  of  the  Pyramids  the  squalid 
Fellah  skulks ;  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles  is 
a  Queen  of  slaves ! 

I  have  called  the  great  estates  of  Cuba 
principalities.  Feudal  lordships  they  too 
truly  are.  We  cross  the  ocean  to  stare, 
in  the  self-complacent  pride  of  liberty, 
upon  the  crumbling  ruins  of  Eaglan,  and 
16 


182  GAN-EDEN. 

of  Baden,  seeing  in  those  grim  walls 
which  nature's  ivy,  and  man's  i  omance  have 
so  softly  veiled,  the  outward  shape  and 
shell  of  a  life  long  since  extinct.  Yet  here, 
near  by  our  northern  homes,  that  life  is  ac- 
tive still,  as  stern  and  strong  as  ever ! 
"  Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make  !  "  "  Cus- 
tom," cried  Teufelsdrockb,  "  doth  make  do- 
tards of  us  all."  The  Paladin  Orlando,  the 
traitor  Ganelon  are  busy  still  in  their  diverse 
paths,  only  serving  or  deceiving  now  a  fool- 
ish magnanimous  public,  instead  of  a  foolish 
magnanimous  Charlemagne.  The  stone  walls 
of  cruel  law,  and  prejudice,  and  passion, 
were  the  true  prisons  of  the  poor,  the  true 
castles  of  the  great  in  the  old  feudal  ^ays. 
They  are  standing  now  in  the  New  World, 
with  guarded  battlements,  and  drawbridge 
lifted,  and  deep  dangerous  moat!  Those 
features  which  make  the  retrospect  of  feu- 
dalism "romantic,"  are  not  wanting  to  charm 
sentimental  travellers  into  a  half  admiration 
of  modern  slavery.  The  warm  hospitality, 
the  gallant  bearing,  the  manly  natural  dig- 
nity of  many  a  cultivated  slave-holder,  recall 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  183 

to  us  the  best  traits  in  the  pictures  of  Cer- 
vantes and  of  Scott.  The  gentle-hearted 
mistress  is  the  refuge  and  the  treasury  of 
her  slaves ;  the  negro  child  bows  his  head 
and  asks  a  blessing  as  his  master  passes,  and 
the  rude  African,  writhing  in  the  agonies  of 
the  cholera,  cries  out  that  he  should  not  die, 
if  the  master  whom  he  reveres  as  a  supe- 
rior being,  were  only  by  his  side.  "  Up  to 
the  ears  in  corn  and  pumpkins,"  Quashee 
blesses  such  God  as  he  worships,  for  his  hour 
of  laziness  and  sunlight,  and  thinks  well  of 
lifev  Won  by  personal  qualities,  which  are 
everywhere  the  strongest  bond  between 
man  and  man,  some  faithful  slave  may  well 
be  found  willing  to  die  by  his  noble  and 
considerate  lord,  and  incapable  of  conceiv- 
ing a  condition  more  satisfactory  than  his 
own.  Without  falling  into  the  weakness  of 
eclecticism,  one  may  freely  admit  that  the 
relation  of  a  humane  master  to  his  slaves 
calls  out  certain  virtues,  which  in  the  let  alone 
system  of  modern  civilization,  are  less  fre- 
quently developed  through  the  usual  rela- 
tions of  society.  But  at  each  step  of  his 


184  GAN-EDEN. 

progress  towards  a  perfect  social  order,  it 
has  been  the  constant  destiny  of  man  to 
drop  for  a  time  some  threads  of  the  mighty 
web  he  is  weaving,  which  is  nevertheless, 
always  advancing  towards  completion.  We 
must  judge  any  state  of  society  by  the 
totality  of  the  impression  it  makes  upon  us. 
And  we  must  remember  that  the  character 
of  that  impression  will  depend  very  much 
upon  the  vivacity  of  our  own  instincts.  The 
traveller  in  a  slave  country  will  find  his  love 
of  luxury,  and  courtesy,  and  generous  ease 
appealed  to  on  every  hand.  Not  less  ur- 
gently and  continually  will  his  respect  for 
man  be  aroused  to  protest  against  the  tone 
and  temper  of  society  around  him.  If  the 
couch  and  the  banqueting-hall,  the  "clap- 
ping of  hands,  jars  of  jewels,  and  violet 
sherbet,"  carry  the  day,  he  will  find  more 
reasons  than  an  Escobar  could  give,  why 
just  at  this  time,  those  things  should  be  treated 
with  considerate  forbearance.  But  if  within 
his  heart,  the  wholesome  thought  of  labor 
curdles,  when  beside  the  swart  husbandman 
in  the  sunny  fields,  he  sees  the  surly  driver 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  185 

lounging,  whip  in  hand,  and  brow  severe 
with  brief  authority,  no  array  of  cunning 
arguments  can  ever  avail  with  him  against 
the  witness  of  that  moment's  deep  disgust. 
Once  clothed  in  flesh,  the  mystery  of  wrong 
haunts  the  memory  forever. 

The  metaphysics  of  evil  are  the  anodynes 
of  the  conscience,  but  the  vision  of  tyranny 
lights  a  flame  in  the  soul,  before  which 
doubts  and  opinions  are  as  flax  in  the  fire. 
Arid  by  the  vision  of  tyranny,  I  do  not  mean 
the  spectacle  of  what  are  usually  called  the 
"  horrors  of  slavery."  I  have  never  seen  in 
any  slave  country  much  positive  physical 
suffering,  and  I  saw  less  in  Cuba  than  I  have 
seen  in  Carolina.  The  "  frightful  sights  "  of 
any  country  are  not  easily  to  be  seen  by 
the  casual  traveller.  How  many  strangers 
can  honestly  say  that  they  ever  saw  as  much 
misery  in  London  or  in  Paris,  as  they  have 
seen  within  an  easy  walk  of  their  own 
homes  ?  The  sight  of  that  which  is  usual, 
calm,  and  unimpassioned  in  the  relations  of 
the  slave  and  the  master,  is  itself  the  deep- 
est "  horror  of  slavery,"  to  a  lover  of  free- 
16* 


186  GAN-EDEN. 

dom.  How  much  more  appalling  than  this 
or  that  detail  of  crime,  is  the  perfect  uncon- 
sciousness with  which  the  literature  and  the 
art  of  antiquity  reveal  the  secular  riot  of 
the  senses !  And  thus,  in  a  land  of  slavery, 
it  is  the  master's  good-natured,  unquestioning 
superiority,  the  slave's  natural,  unconstrained 
servility,  which  most  shock  the  best  instincts 
of  manhood,  and  like  the  mere  sight  of  the 
silent  cannon  and  the  ranged  soldiery  of 
insolent  authority  bearding  unarmed  right, 
rouse  while  they  sadden  the  heart. 

Slavery  on  parade  is  just  as  repulsive  to 
every  thoughtful  lover  of  the  rights  of  man 
as  is  slavery  in  undress.  It  does  not  better 
the  impression  of  the  institution,  that  its 
victims  appear  to  us  sleek,  fat,  and  gay. 
How  does  it  affect  our  judgment  of  the 
nature  and  tendency  of  military  life,  to  hear 
that  General  Jones  visited  the  quarters  of 
the  men,  "tasted  their  soup,"  and  pro- 
nounced it  excellent,  and  that  the  soldiers 
expressed  themselves  entirely  satisfied  with 
their  condition?  The  London  Board  of 
Health  have  observed  that  complaints  never 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  187 

come  from  the  inhabitants  themselves  of  the 
dirtiest,  vilest,  and  most  squalid  dwellings. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  praetorians 
of  a  Jung  Bahadoor,  or  a  Napoleon,  would 
favor  us  with  eulogistic  views  of  despotic 
government.  Just  so  the  bulk  of  slaves, 
like  the  bulk  of  men  everywhere,  resign 
themselves  to  the  inevitable  limitations  of 
their  lot,  and  those  of  them  who  find  favor 
with  their  masters  are  very  likely  to  con- 
ceive exalted  notions  of  their  state.  But 
as  in  the  case  of  the  denizens  of  filthy  Wap*- 
ping  and  close  St.  Giles's,  though  they  may 
neither  feel  nor  proclaim  the  depth  of  their 
own  wretchedness,  yet  nature  protests  against 
the  outrageous  wrong,  in  the  brand  of  ugli- 
ness and  sin  which  she  sets  upon  their  faces 
and  their  forms,  and  in  the  sudden  declama- 
tion of  the  pestilence ;  so  in  the  case  of 
slavery,  though  the  slaves  themselves  should 
find  no  fault,  the  eternal  laws  are  vindicated 
in  the  baseness  of  the  slave  character,  and 
in  the  sluggish  chill  that  smites  the  life- 
blood  of  society. 

Every  person    who    believes  that   man 


188  GAN-EDEN. 

was  made  for  self-government,  and  who 
wishes  to  see  the  world  about  him  flourish- 
ing mainly  in  the  characters  of  his  fellow- 
nien,  must  look  with  utter  loathing  upon  the 
system  which  severs  the  social  nerves  of 
feeling  and  of  thought,  and  condemns  the 
vast  main  body  of  society  to  a  movement 
aimless,  soulless,  and  mechanical.  And  this 
loathing  if  it  be .  sincere,  will  find  a  voice. 
Slavery  is  everybody's  business.  It  must 
be  attended  to  thoughtfully  and  reasonably, 
like  all  other  business,  but  the  safety  and 
hope  of  mankind  are  lodged  in  the  freedom 
and  force  of  private  opinion,  and  the  true 
spirit  of  a  Christian  civilization  mak^s  every 
man  a  missionary,  to  contend  in  his  way  and 
measure,  against  every  wrong  which  he  sees 
and  feels  in  a  world  full  of  wrongs.  Sancho 
Panzas  abound,  with  small  hearts  set  upon 
eventual  Baratarias,  but  however  common 
the  folly  of  Don  Quixote  still  may  be,  his 
nobility  of  mind  and  the  unselfish  devotion 
of  Christian  knight-errantry,  do  not  grow 
like  wild  flowers.  Whatever  tends  to  en- 
courage their  culture,  must  give  delight  to 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  189 

all,  but  to  those  who  think  that  Jesus,  when 
he  said,  "  Ye  all  are  brethren/'  meant  "  Mind 
your  own  business."  Such  must  seek  their 
ideal  of  human  society  in  savage  New 
Guinea,  rather  than  in  philanthropic  New 
England. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  see  in  Cuba  perhaps 
the  mildest  form  of  agricultural  slavery. 
Among  the  slave-holders  of  my  acquaintance 
are  numbered  some  of  my  most  valued 
friends,  men  of  candor  and  of  character, 
with  whom  one  could  speak  as  unreservedly 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  with  high- 
minded  officers  on  the  subject  of  war.  Un- 
der theirkauspices  I  saw  the  system  in  its 
most  favorable  aspects.  Moreover,  the  Span- 
ish slave  laws  rather  resemble  those  of  the 
East  than  those  of  America.  There  is  a 
master  too,  above  the  masters  in  Cuba,  and 
though  the  supreme  authority  is  exerted  less 
to  benefit  the  slaves  than  to  oppress  the 
slave-holders,  still  there  are  circumstances  of 
great  superiority  in  the  condition  of  the 
Cuban  over  that  of  the  American  slave. 
The  American  slave  has  no  hope  but  that 


190  OAN-EDEN. 

of  which  man  cannot  deprive  him,  the  hope 
of  immortality.  His  earthly  destiny  is 
taken  completely  out  of  his  own  hands. 
He  has  no  majority,  and  like  a  child  or  a 
beast,  must  look  to  receive  from  another  his 
good  or  evil  fortune,  without  an  effort  on 
his  part.  The  Cuban  slave  is  protected  by 
the  law  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  certain 
amount  of  property,  and  may  apply  his 
earnings  to  the  purchase  of  his  own  liberty. 
An  authoritative  arbitration  may  settle  his 
value,  on  his  own  appeal,  and  so  soon  as  he 
shall  accumulate  fifty  dollars,  his  master  i? 
obliged  to  accept  that  sum  as  an  instalment 
of  the  slave's  price  which  buys  for  him  a  pro- 
portionate command  of  his  time,  and  in  the 
event  of  his  sale  to  another  owner  before  he 
has  accomplished  his  liberty,  shall  be  carried 
to  his  credit.  I  have  seen  slaves  who  were 
free  for  five  or  six  days  out  of  the  seven,  and 
would  soon  emancipate  themselves  entirely.* 


*  The  large  proportion  of  free  negroes,  (for  they  compose 
nearly  one  sixth  of  the  population,)  is  a  standing  witness  to  the 
advantages  enjoyed  by  the  African  race  in%  Cuba.  Moreover,  the 
free  blacks  and  mulattoes  enjoy  privileges  which  would  not  be 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  191 

The  domestic  relations  of  the  Cuban  slaves 
are  also  protected  by  the  law,  and  the  great 
immorality  which  exists  among  them,  is  a 
consequence  of  their  own  unrestrained  sav- 
age instincts,  and  of  the  debasing  example 
of  the  lower  whites,  rather  than  of  any  such 
tyranny  as  that  which  is  too  truly  painted 
in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  The  Cuban  law,  too, 
forbids  the  infliction  of  more  than  twenty-five 
lashes  (!)  and  the  master  who  maltreats  his 
slave,  is  compelled,  as  in  Turkey,  to  sell  him. 
The  mildness  of  the  climate  is  in  favor  of 
the  Cuban  negro.  And  on  the  great  estates, 
the  slave  quarters,  the  baracones,  are  usually 
as  neat  and  well  arranged  as  on  the  best,  the 
exceptional  plantations  of  the  South.  The 
baracon  is  generally  divided  into  separate 
domiciles  which  are  about  as  large  as  an 
average  Welsh  cottage,  and  are  rarely  so 
dirty  'as  the  homes  of  the  paradise  of  conso- 
nants. To  the  baraeon  a  hospital  is  always 
attached,  often  under  the  charge  of  some 

granted  them  for  an  instant,  in  the  American  slave  States.  They 
are  enrolled  in  the  militia,  and  some  of  them  have  just  been 
called  into  active  service. 


192  GAN-EDEN. 

African  Sangrado,  skilled  in  leeching  and 
bleeding,  and  in  the  compounding  of  "  snake- 
butter,"  *  and  other  astonishing  specifics,  but 
always  superintended  by  a  physician  who 
visits  tfce  estate  once  or  twice  a  week,  or 
even  oftener,  according  to  its  size.  The 
older  women,  exempted  from  harder  labor, 
(for  Cuba  does  not  traffic  much,  like  New 
Orleans,  in  second  hand  muscles)  take  care 
of  the  children  in  a  great  nursery.  The 
children  are  not  often  numerous,  for  the 
growth  of  the  slave  population  in  Cuba  is 
sadly  checked  by  the  influence  of  the  slave- 
trade,  which  keeps  up  an  alarming  prepon- 
derance of  the  male  sex. 

The  greatest  severity  of  toil  is  endured 

*  "  Snake-butter,"  extracted  chiefly  from  the  majo,  the  largest 
snake  in  the  island,  is  considered  a  specific  for  the  rheumatism. 
St.  Patrick  seems  to  have  visited  Cuba  also,  though  he  contented 
himself  there  with  converting  the  snakes.  None  of  them  aro 
venomous  in  the  slightest  degree.  Indee'd,  excepting  the  taran- 
tula and  the  scorpion,  neither  of  which  is  half  so  bad  as  its  repu- 
tation, Cuba  has  no  dangerous  creatures,  even  among  the  insects. 
Thf  skin  of  the  majo,  which  sometimes  grows  to  the  length  of 
eight  or  ten  feet,  when  tanned,  makes  a  very  pretty  leather 
Of  such  skins  the  fierce  Aztecs  used  to  make  their  "  wild  war- 
drums."  For  modern  men  of  milder  manners,  they  furnish  the 
neatest  of  slippers. 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA. 

by  the  slaves,  who  in  small  bands  of  three 
or  four  men,  denied  even  such  savage  sem- 
blance of  family  life  as  the  great  estates 
afford,  are  worked  upon  the  small  tobacco- 
farms,  by  owners  whose  poverty  of  means, 
and  love  of  luxury  make  them  utterly  in- 
human. Under  the  moonlight,  as  under 
the  sunlight,  these  hapless  wretches,  with 
little  rest  and  no  comfort,  must  plant  and 
tend  and  gather  the  pleasant  poisonous 
weed.  From  that  so  famous  "tobacco  of 
the  Vuelta  Abajo,"  a  cunning  alchemist 
might  draw  secrets  more  fatal  than  its 
hidden  nicotine ! 

Even  on  the  best  of  the  great  estates, 
from  November  to  May,  the  negroes  are  re- 
quired to  work  sixteen  and  sometimes  nine- 
teen hours  a  day.  They  work,  like  sailors, 
by  watches,  making  the  "  night  joint  laborer 
with  the  day,"  and  startling  the  stranger 
from  his  midnight  sleep,  with  the  prolonged 
wailing  cadences  of  their  barbaric  chants. 
In  this  excessive  toil  both  sexes  bear  an 
equal  part.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  doubted 
whether  this  particularly  aggravates  the 
17 


194  GAN-EDEN. 

case.  The  hoe  in  the  fields  may  possibly  be 
less  deadly  to  body  and  to  soul,  than  the 
needle  in  the  garret. 

The  number  of  slaves  in  Cuba  probably 
rather  exceeds  than  falls  short  of  350,000. 
Of  this  number  fully  one  half  are  Bozales, 
muzzled  ones,  (so  runs  the  expressive  phrase,) 
who  cannot  say  whence  they  came.  These 
are  the  native  Africans,  most  of  whom  have 
been  imported  in  defiance  of  the  treaties 
with  England,  and  are  therefore  entitled  to 
their  freedom.  The  complicity  of  several 
Captain-Generals  with  the  slave-trade  is  a 
matter  of  notoriety  in  the  island.  The  ad- 
ministration of  the  honorable  and  high- 
minded  General  Valdez,  by  showing  how 
much  an  honest  executive  conld  do  to  inter- 
rupt this  system  of  piracy,  threw  a  heavier 
burden  of  suspicion  upon  his  successors,  and 
the  innocence  of  General  Cafiedo  will  not 
be  easily  established,  in  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  large  cargoes  have  been  continually 
landed  along  the  coast  during  his  term  of 
office.  The  energetic  English  consul  has 
occasionally  succeeded  in  bringing  a  number 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  195 

of  newly  landed  slaves  before  the  mixed 
commission,  but  the  slave-trade  still  goes  on 
profitably,  and  for  the  most  part  in  Ameri- 
can bottoms,  sailing  under  the  American 
flag.  The  excitement  which  is  sometimes 
created  in  America  by  the  news  that  a  Brit- 
ish cruiser  has  boarded  an  American  vessel 
in  the  Cuban  waters,  would,  doubtless,  be 
considerably  mitigated,  did  our  patriotism 
reflect  upon  the  disgraceful  way  on  which 
our  so-called  "  national  honor  "  is  constantly 
made  to  serve  as  a  shield  for  the  pirates  of 
the  slave-trade.  The  frequent  advertise- 
ment in  the  Havana  journals,  of  "  a  new, 
handsome,  and  swift  American  barque,  en- 
tirely ready  for  sea,"  has  a  meaning  easy  to 
be  mastered..  The  demand  for  these  vessels 
is  permanent,  for  after  a  slave-ship  has  dis- 
charged her  fearful  cargo,  she  is  usually 
scuttled  and  sunk.  The  profit  on  victims 
who  can  be  sold  in  Cuba  at  from  six  hun- 
dred to  seventeen  hundred  per  cent,  profit 
on  their  cost  in  Africa,  amply  repays  the 
great  expenses  of  these  horrible  speculations. 
The  freedom  of  the  Bozales  must  be  es- 


196  GAN-EDEN. 

tablished  before  the  mixed  commission. 
This  mixed  commission,  of  English  and 
Spanish  judges,  sits  at  Havana.  The  "  eman- 
cipados,"  or  slaves  declared  free  by  this  com- 
mission, are  apprenticed  for  a  term  of  eight 
years  in  the  island,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
they  are  set  free,  and  may  be  carried  back 
to  Africa,  or  to  one  of  the  British  West 
Indies,  usually  to  Jamaica.  As  the  unfor- 
tunate men  are  generally  captives  of  war, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  restore  them  to 
their  own  countries,  which,  in  many  cases,  are 
in  the  interior,  and  could  only  be  reached 
through  the  territories  of  their  natural  ene- 
mies. We  are  often  told  that  Jamaica  is  a 
much  worse  country  for  the  negro  than 
Cuba,  but  thus  much  is  certain,  that  the 
slaves  stolen  from  the  British  Islands,  mani- 
fest a  singular  desire  to  return  there.  Sev- 
eral instances  of  the  sort  fell  under  my  ob- 
servation, in  one  of  which  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  conveying  to  the  English  consul  an  inti- 
mation of  the  existence  and  wish  to  escape, 
of  a  negro,  who,  with  two  companions,  had 
been  stolen  seventeen  years  before  that 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  197 

time,  from  a  fishing  boat,  and  had  been  sold 
and  resold  six  times,  in  different  parts  of 
Cuba.  The  eniamipados  have  been  often 
very  vilely  treated,  those  to  whom  they 
were  hired  selling  them  into  slavery  and 
returning  their  names  as  dead,  at  the  end 
of  the  eight  years.  The  honorable  urgency 
of  England  to  obtain  a  more  faithful  fulfil- 
ment of  treaty  obligations  in  regard  to  these 
men,  is  the  only  foundation,  so  far  as  I  could 
learn,  for  the  reports  that  England  is  trying 
to  excite  Spain  to  an  imitation  of  her  own 
democratic  policy  of  emancipation. 

The  numerous  body  of  Bozaks,  emancipados 
and  slaves,  constitutes  as  may  be  supposed, 
a  nucleus  of  insurrection,  which,  in  the 
event  of  any  general  commotion,  must  prove 
formidable.  It  would  be  rash  to  say  that 
the  whites  entertain  any  positive  fear  of  the 
negro  population.  The  frightful  atrocities 
which  attended  the  suppression  of  the 
alleged  insurrectionary  attempt  of  1843-44, 
must  .be  attributed  to  the  rapacity  of  the 
Spanish  fiscals  and  low  officers  of  the  crown, 
rather  than  to  any  panic  among  the  Creoles. 
17  * 


198  GAN-EDEN. 

Though  the  black  population  of  Cuba  out- 
numbers the  white,  the  superiority  of  the 
latter  in  habits  of  command  and  resources 
of  organization  can  hardly,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  be  shaken.  In  Hayti,  the 
blacks  were  thirty  times  more  numerous 
than  the  whites,  but  the  servile  war  even 
there,  only  attained  importance  through  the 
conflict  between  the  royalist  and  republican 
whites. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  denied  that  the 
wisest  Cubans  look  with  extreme  dislike 
upon  the  ^constant  introduction  of  new 
hordes  of  savages  into  the  island.  The 
Junta  de  Fomento,  a  quasi-representative 
body,  now  placed  like  every  thing  else,  un- 
der the  control  of  the  Captain-General,  has 
not  hesitated  to  recommend,  very  urgently, 
the  introduction  of  white  and  Indian  colo- 
nists. Many  coolies  from  China  have  been 
already  dispersed  over  the  island,  and  they 
seem  to  give  general  satisfaction  to  the 
planters  who  employ  them.  Miss  Bremer 
has  described  at  length,  the  savage  games 
and  dances  of  the  negroes,  the  spirit  and 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  199 

zest  of  which  are  due  entirely  to  the  fresh 
vivacity  of  barbarian  feeling  continually 
infused  into  the  negro  population.  The 
mirth  of  UEI  Dia  de  los  Reyes,"  the  "Day 
of  Kings,"  has  a  strong  flavor  of  the  horri- 
ble. The  No  Popery  dances  of  Hugh  and 
Dennis,  were  Lydian  measures  when  com- 
pared with  the  canni  lalesque  contortions  of 
that  hideous  carnival. 

Among  the  Bozales,  the  tribe  of  Lucumis 
is  especially  noticeable.  The  Lucumis  are 
not  only  numerous;  they  are  the  fiercest 
and  most  warlike  of  the  coast  tribes,  the 
Caribs  of  Africa.  Their  pride  is  such  that 
they  will  rarely  endure  punishment. 

Dr.  Wurdeman  tells  us  of  a  planter,  who, 
having  purchased  a  gang  of  newly-landed 
Lucumis,  thought  fit  to  punish  one  of  them. 
Soon  afterwards  he  was  summoned  to  the 
help  of  his  overseer,  and  found  the  Lucumis 
dancing  their  war-dance  around  a  tree  on 
which  the  Lucumi  who  had  been  punished, 
was  hanging,  having  taken  refuge  from 
what  he  thought  disgrace,  in  suicide.  Mat- 
ters looked  very  threatening.  But  the 


200  GAN-EDEN. 

planter,  with  great  tact,  ordered  the  dead 
body  to  be  respectfully  taken  down,  placed 
upon  a  bier  and  borne  to  the  baracon.  He 
followed  it  himself,  hat  in  hand.  The  Lu- 
cumis  stared,  fell  into  the  procession^  and 
marched  on  in  silence.  At  the  baracon,  the 
planter  addressed  them  in  praise  of  the 
brave  Lucumi  nation,  and  of  that  particular 
hero  there  before  them,  assured  them  they 
should  be  kindly  treated,  but  must  be  gov- 
erned, and  then  requested  them  to  bury 
their  friend  with  all  the  honors  of  their 
savage  wake.  This  proceeding  quite  concil- 
iated them,  and  the  planter  had  little  more 
trouble  with  them.  The  Lucumis  are  not 
merely  proud  and  fierce.  They  are  very 
intelligent.  I  have  seen  them  intrusted 
with  the  care  of  important  departments  in 
the  complicated  sugar  machinery,  and  a 
friend  of  mine  in  Havana,  an  admirable 
chess-player,  was  badly  beaten  at  his  favor- 
ite game,  by  a  Lucumi,  who  had  been  but 
four  years  in  the  island,  and  yet  spoke  Span- 
ish as  well  as  most  of  the  Creole  negroes. 
And  the  Lucumis  are  by  no  means  the 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  201 

only  fierce  and  intelligent  savages  imported 
into  Cuba.  Whether  this  constant  ground 
swell  into  the  sluggish  waters  of  slavery  is 
favorable  or  not  to  the  safety  of  the  vessel 
that  floats  on  such  a  tide,  my  readers  will 
decide  for  themselves. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

"  They,  too,  have  made  verses,  which  have  been  published  in  books.' 

TACITUS  DE  ORAT. 

I  MIGHT  go  on  with  that  fiery  eulogist  of 
"  Young  Rome,"  Aper,  to  add,  "  and  which 
are  no  better  than  the  verses  of  Cicero," 
did  I  not  remember  how  much  pleasure  1 
took,  long  ago,  in  discussing  certain  "  apple,* 
of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver,"  which  came 
to  my  hands  as  the  first-fruits  of  the  "  gar- 
den of  delight."  Doubtless  the  majority 
of  my  readers  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that 
Cuba  has  any  literature  at  all.  And  when 
we  consider  how  completely  the  island  has 
been  enveloped  in -the  colonial  system  of  a 
government,  which  has  always  acted  upon 
the  resolution  frankly  proclaimed  by  Charles 
IV.  when  he  suppressed  the  University  of 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  203 

Maracaybo,  "that  information  should  not 
become  general  in  America ; "  and  how  ex- 
clusively the  energies  of  the  Creole  mind 
have  been  directed  to  what  is  called  practi- 
cal life,  that  is,  to  eating,  drinking,  sleeping, 
and  trafficking,  it  certainly  is  astonishing 
that  Cuba  should  have  produced  any  writers 
capable  of  interesting  mankind  seriously  by 
the  vigor,  dignity,  and  beauty  of  their 
works.  Yet  such,  as  I  shall  hope  to  show, 
is  the  case. 

I  know  how  apt  we  are  to  overestimate 
any  thing  which  has  any  flavor  of  "  caviare." 
Superiorities  of  all  sorts  are  sad  snares. 
"Those  oysters  we  had  at  Venice,"  have 
spoiled  the  appetite  of  many  an  untravelled 
friend,  who  was  beginning  to  be  ignorantly 
jubilant  over  the  choicest  products  of 
Prince's  Bay.  And  the  oldest  thoughts, 
clothed  in  a  foreign  tongue,  affect  us  like  a 
familiar  landscape  seen  through  stained  win- 
dows. But  after  all  deductions  made,  and 
judging  them  in  the  most  impartial  spirit, 
some  of  the  Cuban  authors  deserve,  it  seems 
to  me,  this  high  praise,  that  they  have  been 


204  GAN-EDEN. 

thinkers  and  artists  in  a  land  indifferent  to 
thought  and  to  art,  true  lovers  of  liberty  in 
an  atmosphere  of  oppression.  Particularly 
must  this  praise  be  awarded  to  three  men, 
Heredia,  Milanes,  and  Placido.  These  all 
are  poets,  and  the  best  productions  of  the 
Cuban  mind  must  be  sought  in  the  field  of 
poetry.  The  poet  is  everywhere  the  morn- 
ing star  of  mind,  in  whose  light  tyrants  see 
only  another  ornament  of  the  night  they 
love,  while  the  oppressed  hail  the  harbinger 
of  day.  No  prose-writer  could  ever  have 
secured  the  publication  in  Cuba  of  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  which  her  poets  have 
given  to  the  world.  The  government  in 
every  case,  it  is  true,  has  awakened,  sooner 
or  later,  to  recognize  the  patriot  in  the  min- 
strel, and  there  are  few  of  the  noteworthy 
bards  of  Cuba  upon  whom  the  hand  of  au- 
thority has  not  fallen  more  or  less  heavily. 
The  works  of  most  of  these  writers  are  now 
contraband  at  home,  and  cannot  easily  be 
procured.  Formerly,  there  were  several 
journals  and  magazines  in  the  island,  which 
used  to  be  enriched  with  melodious  sedition, 


'*> 

PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  205 

but  the  censors  of  the  press  have  suc- 
ceeded in  purifying  even  the  "  Poet's  Cor- 
ner." The  "  Revista  de  la  Habana,"  the  first 
number  of  which  appeared  during  my  stay 
in  the  island,  is  as  decorously  dull  as  the 
"  Giornale  di  Roma  "  itself. 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  character  and  tem- 
per of  the  poets  whose  names  I  have  men- 
tioned, will  show  the  reader  how  much  there 
is  to  be  repressed  in  the  impulses  of  the 
higher  class  of  Cuban  minds.  I  select  these 
writers,  not  merely  because  they  seem  to 
me  the  first  in  point  of  literary  excellence, 
but  because  they  sprang  from  three  different 
classes  of  the  city  population. 

Tr>gQ  Mnrifli  H°FHin  was  a  gentleman,  by 
birth  and  position.  The  son  of  a  patriot, 
whose  patriotism  made  him  an  exile,  Here- 
dia,  born  in  1803,  at  Santiago  de  Cuba,  was 
carried  in  his  childhood  to  Mexico.  There, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  lost  his  father,  and, 
returning  to  Havana,  was  admitted  in  1823, 
to  practice  as  an  advocate,  by  the  Supreme 
Court  at  Puerto  Principe.  His  opinions  and 
conduct  soon  attracted  the  suspicions  of  the 
18 


206  GAN-EDEN. 

government,  and  in  November  of  the  same 
year,  he  was  obliged  to  fly  to  America.  He 
published  the  first  collection  of  his  poems, 
at  New  York,  in  1825.  In  1826,  he  was 
invited  to  Mexico,  where  he  was  at  once 
appointed  assistant  secretary  of  State,  soon 
afterwards  became  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  was  sent  to  the  senate  of  the 
republic.  He  died  at  Mexico  in  the  prime 
of  life,  May  6,  1839.  An  edition  of  his 
works  was  published  at  Toluca  in  Mexico, 
in  1832,  and  another  at  Barcelona,  the  Mar- 
seilles of  Spain,  in  1840.  As  a  man,  Here- 
dia  is  honorably  remembered  for  the  gener- 
osity, integrity,  and  amiability  of  his  char- 
acter ;  as  a  poet,  the  dignity  of  his  thought, 
the  harmony  of  his  versification,  and  the 
graces  of  his  language  well  support  his  claim 
to  the  high  rank  which  his  countrymen  have 
assigned  to  him;  as  a  patriot,  his  love  of 
country  seems  to  have  been  not  less  wise 
than  fervent.  The  following  lines  from  one 
of  his  unpublished  poems,  "The  Exile's 
Hymn,"  vibrate  with  the  genuine  thrill  of 
poetic  feeling,  and  with  the  manliest  passion. 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  207 

Fair  land  of  Cuba  !  on  thy  shores  are  seen, 

Life's  far  extremes  of  noble  and  of  mean ; 

The  world  of  sense  in  matchless  beauty  dressed, 

And  nameless  horrors  hid  within  thy  breast. 

Ordained  of  Heaven  the  fairest  flower  of  earth, 

False  to  thy  gifts,  and  reckless  of  thy  birth  ! 

The  tyrant's  clamor,  and  the  slave's  sad  cry, 

With  the  sharp  lash  in  insolent  reply,  — 

Such  are  the  sounds  that  echo  on  thy  plains, 

While  virtue  faints,  and  vice  unblushing  reigns. 

Rise,  and  to  power  a  daring  heart  oppose ! 

Confront  with  death  these  worse  than  deathlike  woea. 

Unfailing  valor  chains  the  flying  fate ; 

Who  dares  to  die  shall  win  the  conqueror's  state  ! 

We,  too,  can  leave  a  glory  and  a  name 

Our  children's  children  shall  not  blush  to  claim ; 

To  the  far  future  let  us  turn  our  eyes, 

And  up  to  God's  still  unpolluted  skies ! 

Better  to  bare  the  breast,  and  undismayed 

Meet  the  sharp  vengeance  of  the  hostile  blade, 

Than  on  the  couch  of  helpless  grief  to  lie, 

And  in  one  death  a  thousand  deaths  to  die. 

Fearest  thou  blood  ?     O,  better,  in  the  strife^ 

From  patriot  wounds  to  pour  the  gushing  life, 

Than  let  it  creep  inglorious  through  the  veins 

Benumbed  by  sin,  and  agony,  and  chains  ! 

What  hast  thou,  Cuban  1    Life  itself  resign,  - 

Thy  very  grave  is  insecurely  thine ! 

Thy  blood,  thy  treasure,  poured  like  tropic  rain 

From  tyrant  hands  to  feed  the  soil  of  Spain. 

If  it  be  truth,  that  nations  still  must  bear 

The  crushing  yoke,  the  wasting  fetters  wear,  — 

If  to  the  people  this  be  Heaven's  decree, 

To  clasp  their  shame,  nor  struggle  to  be  free, 

From  truth  so  base  my  heart  indignant  turns, 

With  freedom's  frenzy  all  my  spirit  turns,  — 


208  GAN-EDEN. 

That  rage  which  ruled  the  Roman's  soul  of  fire, 
And  filled  thy  heart,  Columbia's  patriot  sire  ! 
Cuba !  thou  still  shalt  rise,  as  pure,  as  bright, 
As  thy  free  air,  —  as  full  of  living  light; 
Free  as  the  waves  that  foam  around  thy  strands, 
Kissing  thy  shores,  and  curling  o'er  thy  sands  ! 


Heredia's  fine  poem  of  Niagara  must  be 
known  to  many  of  our  readers  through  Mr. 
Bryant's  excellent  version.  It  has  always 
seemed  to  me  one  of  the  very  best  utter- 
ances ever  called  forth  by  a  scene,  whose 
praise,  "  expressive  silence  "  best  can  muse. 
Even  upon  the  brink  of  the  mighty  cata- 
ract, the  palm-trees  of  Cuba  sigh  through 
the  wanderer's  thought,  whispering  sadly  of 
the  grievances  and  misery  that  flourish  in 
their  shade.  The  "  Season  of  the  Northers," 
inspires  some  natural  and  musical  verses,  in 
which  the  dreams  of  the  patriot  mingle 
still,  with  the  blest  reality  of  the  husband's 
happy  love. 


My  happy  land  !  thou  favored  land  of  God, 
Where  rest  his  mildest  looks,  his  kindliest  smiles, 
Oh !  not  forever  from  thy  soil  beloved, 
May  cruel  fortune  tear  me  !  but  be  thine 
The  latest  light  that  on  these  eyes  shall  shine ! 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  209 

How  sweet,  dear  love,  to  listen  to  the  rain, 
That  patters  softly  on  our  humble  home  ; 
To  hear  the  wild  winds  whistling  o'er  the  plain, 
And  the  deep  booming  of  the  ocean's  roar, 
Where  shattering  surges  lash  the  distant  shore ! 

There,  by  thy  side,  on  softest  couch  reclined, 
My  throbbing  lyre  shall  rest  upon  thy  knees, 
And  my  glad  heart  shall  sing  the  boundless  peace, 
Of  thy  fair  soul,  the  light  of  thy  dear  face, 
My  happy  lot,  and  God's  surpassing  grace. 

Clearly  Heredia  was  a  man  to  be  seriously 
"  discouraged  "  by  any  despotic  government. 
Milanes,  born  in  a  more  humble  rank  of  life, 
ancf  bound  by  his  occupation  to  the  mercan- 
tile class,  was  not  less  warm  and  sincere  in 
his  patriotism  than  Heredia.  But  the  tem- 
per of  his  mind  was  melancholy,  and  his 
sweetest  strains  are  full  of  a  sad,  mystical 
fervor.  His  brother  says  of  him  in  the  pre- 
face to  an  edition  of  his  works,  published  at 
Havana,  that  he  "was  inspired  with  the 
noble  enthusiasm  of  accomplishing  a  great 
social  mission,  and  possessed  of  faith  and 
hope,  selected,  for  the  subject  of  his  songs, 
moral  or  philosophical  ideas."  He  is  indeed 
a  very  plaintive  poet,  and  in  reading  his 
verses  we  are  haunted  with  a  continual  in- 
18* 


210  GAN-EDEN. 

definite  sound  of  wailing.  Certainly  there 
is  not  much  in  the  condition  of  Cuba  which 
can  inspire  her  bards  with  pride  and  pleas- 
ure. But  the  intense  melancholy  of  Mi- 
lanes  has  a  tone  of  personal  suffering,  like 
that  which  pervades  the  sonnets  of  Camoens, 
or  the  complaints  of  Tasso.  The  gloomy 
tendencies  of  the  temperament  of  Milanes, 
aggravated  by  private  troubles,  and  still 
more,  no  doubt,  by  the  consciousness  of  his 
impotence  to  redress  those  wrongs  of  his 
country  which  he  so  keenly  felt,  finally  over- 
powered his  reason. 

The  story  of  this  young  man,  the  purity 
of  whose  character,  the  elevation  of  whose 
aims,  and  the  delicacy  of  whose  genius  have 
secured  for  him  a  real  and  beneficent  influ- 
ence in  his  own  country,  sad  as  it  is,  is  by 
no  means  the  saddest  to  be  found  in  the 
brief  literary  history  of  Cuba.  A  darker 
tragedy  closed  the  career  of  the  most  inter- 
esting of  the  Cuban  poets.  GabneL_de_la 
Conrppcion  Yaldes,  (not  unknown  in  Amer- 
ica by  his  nom  de  plume  of  Placido,)  was  a 
mulatto  of  Matanzas,  a  comb-maker  by  trade, 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  211 

whose  education  was  of  the  very  rudest 
kind,  a  Pariah  of  society,  bearing  in  his  very 
form  and  color  the  ineffaceable  badge  of  dis- 
grace and  servitude.  Yet  this  man  tri- 
umphed over  all  the  obstacles  in  his  way, 
and  after  establishing  a  high  reputation  as  a 
poet,  set  the  seal  to  his  fame  by  a  dignified 
and  heroic  death.  In  1 844.  pnTJJo.nl a.rs  of 
an  intended  insurrection  of  the  colored  pop- 
ulation, came  from  various  sources  to  the 
ears  of  the  supreme  authority  in  Cuba,  and 
seemed  to  demand  investigation.  Every 
thing  like  a  representative  body  having 
been  abolished  by  Tacon,  there  was  no  ap- 
parent way  open  for  consulting  with  the 
Creoles  on  the  subject.  The  Captain-Gen- 
eral coolly  resolved  to  settle  the  business  by 
military  commissions,  and  immediately  let 
loose  upon  the  island  a  horde  of  inferior 
officials,  who  proceeded  to  collect  testimony, 
and  to  inflict  punishment,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  "  process  of  the  Templars,"  or  "  Je£i 
frevjsj^ampaign."  Numbers  of  free  persons 
of  color,  and  of  slaves,  died  under  the  lash,* 

*  The  British  Commissioner,  Kennedy,  says  three  thousand. 


212  GAN-EDEN. 

many  others  were  summarily  shot,  and  such 
infamous  excesses  were  committed  by  the 
fiscals  as  beggar  belief.  The  victims  of  this 
dreadful  persecution  were  stripped  of  their 
property,  and  the  crown  officers  (with  a  few 
honorable  exceptions,)  soon  converted  their 
system  of  terror  into  a  grand  financial  ex- 
pedient. White  Creoles,  and  foreigners,  were 
not  exempted  from  this  pestilence  of  power, 
and  the  planters  were  compelled  to  ransom 
their  slaves  at  great  cost,  from  the  hands  of 
a  tribunal  which  arrested  without  accusation, 
and  condemned  without  inquiry.  The  con- 
spicuous position  of  Placido  among  his  peo- 
ple, marked  him  out  as  an  early  victim.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  Placido  may  have 
been  concerned  in  the  conspiracy  which 
there  is  really  reason  to  suppose  was  then 
organizing,  and  though  he  contemptuously 
denied  many  of  the  charges  brought  against 
him,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  shrunk 
from  maintaining  the  right  of  the  negroes 
to  rise  against  oppression.  He  was  found 
guilty  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  He  be- 
haved in  prison  with  great  propriety  and 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  213 

composure,  and  won  the  admiration  of  the 
numbers  who  visited  him.  In  the  intervals 
of  his  preparation  for  death,  he  composed 
some  of  his  finest  poems,  particularly  his 
"  Prayer  to  God."  Can  we  deny  the  honors 
of  genius  to  the  Cuban  mulatto  who  could  so 
feel  and  speak  ? 

O  God  of  love  unbounded  !  Lord  supreme ! 

In  overwhelming  grief,  to  thee  I  fly ; 

Rending  this  veil  of  hateful  calumny, 
O,  let  thine  arm  of  might  my  fame  redeem '. 

Wipe  thou  this  foul  disgrace  from  off  my  hrow, 

With  which  the  world  hath  sought  to  stamp  it  now 

Thou  King  of  kings,  my  fathers'  God  and  mine, 
Thou  only  art  my  sure  and  strong  defence ; 
The  polar  snows,  the  tropic  fires  intense, 

The  shaded  sea,  the  air,  the  light,  are  thine ; 
The  life  of  leaves,  the  water's  changeful  tide, 
All  things  are  thine,  and  by  thy  will  abide. 

Thou  art  all  power ;  all  life  from  thee  goes  forth, 
And  fails  or  flows  obedient  to  thy  breath ; 
Without  thee,  all  is  naught,  in  endless  death 

All  nature  sinks,  forlorn  and  nothing  worth. 
Yet  even  the  void  obeys  thee,  and  from  naught, 
By  thy  dread  word,  the  living  man  was  wrought. 

Merciful  God !  how  should  I  thee  deceive  ? 

Let  thy  eternal  wisdom  search  my  soul ! 

Bowed  down  to  earth  by  falsehood's  base  control, 
Her  stainless  wings  not  now  the  air  may  cleave. 

Send  forth  thine  hosts  of  truth,  and  set  her  free ! 

Stay  thou,  O  Lord  !  the  oppressor's  victory. 


214  GAN-EDEN. 

Forbid  it,  Lord,  by  that  most  free  outpouring 
Of  thine  own  precious  blood  for  every  brother 
Of  our  lost  race,  and  by  thy  Holy  Mother, 

So  full  of  grief,  so  loving,  so  adoring, 

Who,  clothed  in  sorrow,  followed  thee  afar, 
"Weeping  thy  death  like  a  declining  star. 

But  if  this  lot  thy  love  ordains  to  me,  — 
To  yield  to  foes  most  cruel  and  unjust, 
To  die,  and  leave  my  poor  and  senseless  dust 

The  scoff  and  sport  of  their  weak  enmity,  — 
Speak,  thou !  and  then  thy  purposes  fulfil ; 
Lord  of  my  life,  work  thou  thy  perfect  will ! 

A  letter  which  Placido  sent  to  his  wife  on 
the  night  before  his  death,  is  worthy  of  a 
place  beside  the  'more  famous  one  which 
^  Padilla  wrote  in  circumstances  so  similar. 
And  thus  the  despised  laborer  bade  farewell 
to  his  mother. 

The  appointed  lot  has  come  upon  me,  mother, 

The  mournful  ending  of  my  years  of  strife  ; 

This  changing  world  I  leave,  and  to  another, 

In  blood  and  terror,  goes  my  spirit's  life. 

But  thou,  grief-smitten,  cease  thy  mortal  weeping, 

And  let  thy  soul  her  wonted  peace  regain  ; 

I  fall  for  right,  and  thoughts  of  thee  arc  sweeping 

Across  my  lyre,  to  wake  its  dying  strain,  — 

A  strain  of  joy  and  gladness,  free,  unfailing, 

All-glorious  and  holy,  pure,  divine, 

And  innocent,  unconscious  as  the  wailing 

I  uttered  at  my  birth ;  and  I  resign, 

Even  now,  my  life  ;  even  now,  descending  slowly, 

Faith's  mantle  folds  me  to  my  slumbers  holy. 

Mother,  farewell !    God  keep  thee,  and  for  ever  I 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  215 

On  the  morning  of  June  28,  Placido  was 
led,  with  nineteen  others,  to  the  Plaza  of 
Matanzas.  He  passed  to  his  death,  like  an 
Indian  chief,  chanting  for  a  death  sOng  his 
own  noble  "Prayer."  He  was  to  suffer 
first,  stepped  into  the  square,  knelt  with  un- 
bandaged  eyes,  and  gave  the  signal  to  the 
soldiers.  When  the  smoke  rolled  away,  it 
was  seen  that  he  had  only  been  wounded, 
and  had  fallen  in  agony  to  the  ground.  A 
murmur  of  pity  and  horror  ran  through  the 
crowd;  but  Placido  slowly  rising  to  his 
knees,  drew  up  his  form  proudly,  and  cried, 
in  a  broken  voice,  "  Farewell,  world !  ever 
pitiless  to  me !  Fire !  here  I "  raising  his 
hand  to  his  temples. 

Possibly  this   dark  history  may  not  yet 
have  rounded  to  its  close.     Men  like  Tojus— •> 
saint  and  Placido,  fall  not  obscurely  nor  un- 
avenged.    Their  friends  are 

exultations,  agonies, 
And  love,  and  man's  unconquerable  mind. 

A  Spanish  traveller  in  Cuba,  Sa*las  y  Qui-_ 
ro^a,  says  of  Placido's   poetical  merits,  "I 


216  GAN-EDEN. 

know  no  American  poet,  Heredia  included, 
who  approaches  him  in  genius,  in  polish,  in 
dignity."  The  same  critic,  after  analyzing 
Placido's  poetry,  writes  thus  :  — 

"  It  is  truly  wonderful  to  hear  a  poet,  esteemed  humble  by  the 
society  in  which  he  lives,  addressing  himself  to  the  Queen-Ke- 
gent  of  Spain  in  language  like  this  :  — 

Some  one  there  is,  who,  with  his  golden  lyre, 

Worthier  thy  sovereign  ear,  shall  chant 

To  the  vibrations  of  its  jewelled  strings 

More  grateful  songs,  perchance,  but  not  more  free  ! 

And  these  lines  are  equally  bold  and  daring  :  — 

And  beats  not  thy  heart,  too  ?     Therefore  will  I, 
While  the  pure  dawn  her  snowy  canopy 

Hangs  on  the  orient  sky, 
Bid  my  rejoicing  hymns  to  God  on  high, 
Upborne  by  gentlest  breezes,  swiftly  fly :  — 
Let  them  who  fear  be  dumb,  for  not  of  them  am  I ! 
If  thou  with  pleasure  hearest,  let  thy  prayers 
Swift  seek  the  Eternal,  that  my  songs  may  rise 
Even  to  his  throne,  and  then  on  Cuba  fall, 
Impearled  in  blessings  from  the  echoing  skies  ! 

"  It  was  important  for  me  to  paint  the  poetic  character  of  Pla- 
cido,  to  bring  into  clearer  and  clearer  relief  his  astonishing  merits. 
I  fear,  nevertheless,  that  my  readers  will  not  sufficiently  appre- 
ciate the  true  condition  of  a  miserable  laborer  in  the  island  of 
Cuba,  and  only  by  such  an  appreciation  can  they  fully  estimate 
the  great  value  of  the  lines  I  have  quoted.  The  vigor  of  Pla- 
cido's versification  corresponds  to  that  of  his  thought.  What 
poet,  however  loftily  elevated  by  earthly  glory,  would  not  rejoice 
to  be  the  author  of  the  four  following  verses,  so  full  and  pol- 
ished, to  which  our  language  has  few  superior  ? 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  217 

De  gozo  enajenados  mis  sentidos, 
Fije  mi  vista  en  las  serenas  ondas, 
Y  vi  las  ninfas,  revolver  gallardas, 
Las  rubias  hebras  de  sus  Arenzas  blondas. 

"Almost  all  the  versification  of  this  poet  is  of  this  manly  na- 
ture ;  his  sonnets  to  Napoleon,  to  Christ,  and  to  William  Tell, 
are  three  jewels  of  our  literature ;  the  conclusion  of  the  last  is  a 
noble  cry  of  indignation  :  — 

That  even  the  insensate  elements 

Fling  back  the  despot's  ashes  from  their  breasts. 

It  is  equally  surprising  to  see  the  facility  with  which  he  manages 
the  tenderest  themes,  and  some  of  his  compositions  touch  the 
deepest  emotions  of  the  soul.  My  task  would  be  endless,  should 
I  attempt  to  extract  all  the  beauties  of  these  poems  ;  for  if  there 
are  very  few  that  can  be  quoted  in  full,  there  is  not  one  unre- 
lieved by  the  light  of  genius.  Their  faults  arise  from  the  poet's 
want  of  instruction,  their  inspiration  is  celestial " 

And  this  man,  be  it  once  more  remembered, 
was  a  person,  whom  many  an  American 
lady  would  have  thought  sufficiently  hon- 
ored with  a  place  behind  her  chair  at  the 
dinner-table,  where  he  might  have  listened 
to  edifying  conversation,  about  the  insulted 
genius  of  Burns,  and  the  prejudices  of  a 
snobbish  nobility ! 

I  must  not  dwell  here  upon  the  names 

and  works  of  Cuban  poets  of  various  merit, 

numerous  enough  to  furnish  some  future  Dr. 

Griswold  with  ample  matter  for  one  grand 

19 


218  GAN-EDEN. 

division  of  the  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Span- 
ish America!"  It  is  enough  if  1  have 
clearly  indicated  the  existence,  in  various 
ranks  of  Cuban  civic  society,  of  nobler 
thoughts  and  higher  aims,  than  the  press,  or 
the  prevailing  character  of  social  life  reveal. 
The  chief  interest  of  the  literature  of  Cuba 
is  indeed  derived  from  the  proofs  which  it 
affords  us,  that  the  seeds  of  liberal  thought 
and  pure  desires,  which  the  winds  and  waves 
have  somehow  wafted  even  to  those  block- 
aded shores,  have  germinated,  and  are  bear- 
ing fruit.  As  works  of  art,  the  poems  which 
have  fallen  under  my  notice,  cannot,  in  gen- 
eral, be  highly  commended.  The  literature 
of  Spain,  since  the  days  of  Cervantes  and 
Colderon,  has  been  fertile  chiefly  in  bad 
models.  The  vast  majority  of  the  later 
Spanish  poets  oscillate  between  the  trivial 
and  the  dreary.  The  Spanish  Pegasus  has 
been  broken  to  a  tyrannous  manege.  The 
influence  of  a  system  of  versification,  not 
much  less  absurd  than  the  rules  of  the  mas- 
ter singers,  is  felt  by  the  most  careless  reader, 
in  the  indescribable  tediousness  of  Spanish 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  219 

poetry.  The  study  of  the  French  Romanti- 
cists, (for  France  is  the  true  teacher  of  the 
enlightened  Cubans,)  has  indeed  somewhat 
relieved  the  Cuban  poets  from  this  thral- 
dom. While  Volney  and  De  Tracy  have 
taught  the  Cubans  materialism  in  morals 
and  philosophy,  Victor  Hugo  and  Lamartine 
have  disclosed  to  tKem  new  secrets  of  poet- 
ical composition.  But  the  prevailing  tem- 
per of  the  tropics  is  hostile  to  the  highest 
forms  of  poetry.  In  that  eternal  summer 
the  voice  grows  languid  as  the  mind.  "  Out 
of  their  few  warm  days,"  says  Landor,  "  the 
English,  if  the  produce  is  not  wine  and  oil, 
gather  song,  and  garner  sensibility."  Out 
6f  their  unchanging  heats  and  splendors,  the 
gons  of  the  tropics  gather  tears  and  garner 
gentimentalism.  The  Cuban  muse  rarely 
tries  the  flights  of  the  "  Theban_eagle ; "  as 
rarely,  the  soaring  rapture  of  the  English 
ark ;  she  sits  in  the  heavy  foliage  of  her 
delicious  home,  and  there  "her  sad  song 
nourneth  well,"  or  ill,  as  the  case  may  be. 

The   names   of  the    Cuban  poets,  those 
rich,   sonorous   Spanish   names,  which  you 


220  (JAN-EDEN. 

cannot  utter  without  an  unconscious  infla- 
tion of  the  voice,  and  an  involuntary  wave 
of  the  hand,  tempt  one  to  expatiate  upon 
this  subject.  But  I  shall  forbear.  The 
titles  of  some  of  their  works  will  convey  a 
sufficient  idea,  to  the  judicious  reader,  of  the 
school  to  which  they  should  be  referred. 
"Leaves  of  My  Soul,"  "Heart-Beats,"  "  Whirl-'  / 
winds  of  the  Tropics,"  "  Passion-Flo  wers,"'/ 
such  are  the  baptismal  phrases  in  which 
the  Cubans  delight.  Gleams  of  manly  as- 
piration are  not  wanting  in  these  writings, 
nor  the  comfortable  light  of  a  true  respect 
for  what  is  truest  in  womanhood.  Milanes 
is  not  alone  in  the  faith,  that 

Still  in  woman's  heart  the  true  Eden  lingers, 
Bearing  fruit  of  Loving,  Feeling,  and  Belief. 

Vivid  descriptions  of  natural  scenery,  much 
in  the  glowing  Portuguese  manner,  illumin- 
ate their  pages.  Imaginative,  these  poets 
rarely  are.  With  that  quality,  none  of  them 
was  so  richly  gifted  as  Placido.  His  images 
are  often  pathetic  in  their  originality;  as, 
for  instance,  when  he  compares  the  sudden 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  221 

passing  of  the  moon  from  behind  the  cliffs 
into  the  open  starlit  sky,  to  the  advent  into 
the  ball-room,  of  a  beautiful  woman,  su- 
perbly dressed,  and  wearing  a  Cashmere 
shawl !  Quaintly  ^barbaric  this  image  seems, 
yet  how  charged  it  is  with  the  sad  history 
of  gorgeous  dreams  and  warm  visions,  pris- 
oned in  the  poet-brain  of  an  outcast  and  a 
Pariah ! 

The  prose  literature  of  Cuba  may  be 
quickly  reviewed.  "How  can  we  speak, 
who  have  no  freedom  to  will,"  cried  Jacques, 
de  Molay  to  his  judges,  "for  with  the  loss 
of  freedom  to  will,  man  loses  every  thing, 
honor,  courage,  eloquence ! "  No  plea  of 
"poetic  license,"  avails  the  Cuban  whose 
words  are  not  tagged  with  rhymes.  The 
Havana  bookstores  contain  nothing  to  indi- 
cate that  the  "  University  of  Havana  "  has 
borne  any  more  fruit  than  El  Azhar,  the 
Oxford  of  the  Arabs.  The  periodicals  are 
trashy  in  the  extreme,  the  newspaper  press  is, 
of  course,  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Spaniards. 

In  the  femlleton,  the  ladies  are  generally 
furnished  with  a  translation  of  some  French 
19* 


222  GAN-EDEN. 

novel.  The  editorials  are  often  able,  but 
the  body  of  the  paper  is  filled  with  very 
much  such  matter  as  one  finds  in  the  col- 
ums  of  the  "  newspapers  "  which  young  la- 
dies at  boarding-schools  sometimes  concoct. 
The  current  news  of  the  island  is  only  to 
be  picked  up  at  hearsay  in  Havana,  and 
chiefly  on  the  covered  quay  at  the  mouth 
of  the  harbor,  where  every  morning,  "  the 
merchants  most  do  congregate."  The  old 
Spaniards  are  very  chary  of  their  commu- 
nications, and  the  Creole  hatred  of  the  gov- 
ernment acts  like  a  mordant,  biting  in  the 
blackest  shades  of  every  picture. 

While  I  was  at  Havana,  the  garrotte  was 
several  times  erected  at  the  Punta,  and 
twice  for  the  punishment  of  political  offend- 
ers. The  newspapers  made  no  allusion  to 
any  of  these  events.  In  one  instance,  I 
happened  to  be  dining  on  board  a  man-of- 
war,  where  an  officer  in  the  company  gave 
us  the  history  of  one  of  the  political  prison- 
ers, (both  of  whom,  by  the  way,  were  re- 
prieved at  the  place  of  execution,  and  sent 
to  the  galleys  at  Ceuta,)  telling  us  that  hia 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  223 

name  was  Garcia,  and  that  he  was  a  misera- 
ble old  creature,  at  whose  house  two  of  the 
Lopez  party,  badly  wounded,  had  been  left. 
He  treated  them  very  well,  but  they  died. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  news  of  Las  Pozas 
reached  him,  and  our  Cuban  Falstaff  in- 
stantly produced  his  dead  pirates,  alleging 
that  he  had  slain  them,  "  for  Queen  and 
Country."  He  was  rewarded  with  a  deco- 
ration, but  the  truth  coming  to  light  after  a 
while,  Senor  Garcia  was  compromised,  and 
finally  brought  into  the  shadow  of  death. 
A  day  or  two  after  the  reprieve,  there  ap- 
peared in  the  Diario,  what  purported  to  be 
a  sort  of  Jubilate  from  the  wife  of  one  Garcia, 
who  ought  to  have  suffered  something,  but 
had  been  spared  by  the  Queen's  mercy.  No 
one,  who  had  not  in  some  surreptitious  way 
heard  of  Garcia  and  his  story,  could  possibly 
have  comprehended  this  singular  communi- 
cation. Two  mutinies  of  troops,  at  least, 
accompanied  with  fusillades,  came  to  my 
knowledge,  one  at  Villa  Clara,  and  the  other 
at  Santiago  de  Cuba.  They  were  only 
darkly  glanced  at,  in  leaders  laudatory  of 


224  GAM-EDEN. 

the  "  firm  justice  of  Spain/'  and  contemptu- 
ous of  the  scandal,  which  something  not 
stated,  might  cause  in  "  a  neighboring  na- 
tion." The  Cuban  press  is  indeed  no  tran- 
script of  the  Cuban,  but  only  of  the 
"  Peninsular  "  world. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

"  Concini.  Mais  cc  qui  me  rapporte  le  plus,c'est  de  tirer  les  horo- 
scopes et  de  dire  la  bonne  aventnre.  Isab.  Vraiment  !  vous  savez 
dire  1'avenir  ?  "  A.  DE  VIGNY.  (La  Marechale  JAncre.) 

THERE  are  many  Concinis  in  our  councils 
of  State,  gipsy  politicians,  who  become  pro- 
phetic as  soon,  as  their  palms  have  been 
crossed  with  the  silver  of  office.  -And  these 
men  have  so  satisfied  the  people  that  the  An- 
tilles also  are  our  inheritance,  that  it  may  be 
dangerous  to  hint  a  doubt  on  that  subject. 
It  seems  to  be  settled  that  Spain  is  at  best, 
but  a  tenant  for  years  in  her  colony.  Is  it 
rumored  that  Spain  thinks  of  abolishing  sla- 
very in  Cuba  ?  Instantly  the  heir  cries  out, 
"Spain  shall  by  no  means  commit  waste. 
Nothing  is  so  dear  to  me  as  my  slaves,  pres- 
ent and  to  come !  "  The  continent  clamors 
for  its  "  manifest  destiny."  What  chance  is 


226  GAN-EDEN. 

there  of  a  hearing,  for  a  few  deprecatory 
voices?  Were  it  even  conceivable  that  a 
minority  could  be  in  the  right,  yet  wisdom 
exclaims  with  Molie're,  "Qu'est  ce  que  la 
raison  avec  un  filet  de  voix,  contre  une 
gueule  comme  celle-la  ? "  It  is  a  rash 
thing  to  disturb  that  comfortable  slumber 
of  a  decided  opinion,  which  majorities 
love.  The  laws  of  Menu  protected  the 
quiet  of  Brahmins,  by  pouring  hot  oil  into 
the  ears  of  anybody  who  ventured  to  offer 
them  so  much  as  a  hint,  on  any  moral  or 
religious  subject.  Only  less  severe,  are  the 
punishments  ordained  for  those  who  dare 
question  the  political  creed  of  a  majority. 
Wiser  in  their  generation,  are  those  writers 
who,  whether  historical  or  prophetic,  as 
Montaigne  observes.  "  make  it  their  trade  to 
turn  all  events  to  our  advantage,  in  spite  of 
sense  and  reason,  and  omit  every  considera- 
tion in  the  least  degree  ticklish  ! " 

Spain  is  tyrannical,  Cuba  is  rich,  America 
|s  ravenously  republican.  From  these  prop-; 
ositions  it  has  been  deduced  that  Cuba  must 
soon  become  a  member  of  our  great  and 


PICTURES     OF     CUBA.  227 

glorious  confederacy.  Admitting  the  prop- 
ositions, I  feel  bound  to  question  the  conse- 
quence. And  this  is  the  method  of  my 
croaking. 

The  Spanish  rule  in  Cuba  is  undoubtedly 
hateful.  The  immense  majority  of  the 
Creoles  as  undoubtedly  hate  it.  And  neither 
the  cause  nor  the  effect  is  of  recent,  origin.  v 
Why  then  is  Cuba  still  a  Spanish  colony, 
and  why  does  it  bear  the  title  of  "  Ever 
Faithful  ?  "  It  is  long,  since  the  legend  on 
the  Spanish  coins,  calling  the  sovereign 
"  prosperous  in  both  worlds,"  became  an  idle 
lie.  The  Peninsula  succumbed  to  France, 
and  was  saved  by  England.  One  after 
another,  the  provinces  of  America  tore  them- 
selves from  the  desperate  clutch  of  the 
mother  country. 

Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  alone  were  left  to 
the  crown.  And  for  this  reason.  The  Creoles 
of  these  islands  preferred  their  colonial  de- 
pendence, to  such  independence  as  that  of 
San  Domingo.  It  was  doubtless  disagreeable 
enough  to  the  hidalgos  of  the  mainland,  to 
coalesce,  in  any  degree,  with  the  peons  of 


228  GAN-EDEN. 

Mexico  or  Peru!  The  Cubans  could  not, 
for  a  moment,  endure  a  mulatto  republic; 
they  knew  that  in  the  event  of  a  war  they 
must  secure  the  negroes  as  auxiliaries,  or 
meet  them  as  antagonists,  and  they  preferred 
quiet  to  either  of  these  alternatives.  Unfit- 
ted as  I  believe  the  great  body  of  the  Cuban 
Creoles  to  be,  for  the  conflict  or  the  triumph 
of  liberty,  Cuba  has  never  lacked  men 
enough,  fully  equal  in  courage  and  charac- 
ter to  the  best  and  bravest  patriots  of  Span- 
ish America,  whose  influence  might  have 
roused  their  fellow-countrymen  to  a  success- 
ful revolt.  But  slave-holding  Cuba  dares 
not  attempt  her  freedom. 

"Yet  if  Cuba  cannot  be  revolutionized 
from  within,  may  she  not  be  revolutionized 
from  without?"  We  hear  constantly  of 
"armies  of  deliverance"  on  the  way  to 
those  fair  shores,  and  it  has  been  not  indis- 
tinctly hinted,  that  the  strong  arm  of  the 
American  government  may  be  stretched  out 
to  aid  the  oppressed  islanders.  If  Spain 
could  be  driven  suddenly  from  all  her  foot- 
holds in  Cuba,  by  a  grand  coup  de  main,  and 


PICTURES     OF    CUBA.  229 

the  places  of  the  Spanish  troops  could  be 
instantly  filled  by  an  equal  force  of  Ameri- 
can soldiery,  regular  or  irregular,  it  is  cer- 
tainly possible  that  "  order  "  might  be  main- 
tained in  the  new  republic.  But  those  who 
count  upon  an  easy  and  immediate  victory 
over  Spain,  reckon,  it  is  to  be  feared,  with- 
out their  hosts.  The  Spanish  troops  in 
Cuba  are  now  more  than  respectable  in 
numbers,  and  though  they  are  probably  in- 
ferior, in  many  important  attributes,  to  our 
own,  still  they  come  of  a  brave  stock,  and 
of  a  people  particularly  famous  for  fighting 
behind  stone  walls.  Spain,  too,  has  often 
shown  that  she  is  never  so  much  to  be  feared 
as  when  contending  in  a  desperate  cause. 
Nations  as  well  as  individuals  have  their  in- 
sanities of  honor,  and  nothing  is  more  for- 
midable than  the  tenacious  ferocity  which 
clings  to  a  falling  cause,  and  never  counts 
the  cost.  Our  own  country  is,  at  this  time, 
most  lamentably  weak  upon  the  water,  and 
we  shall  do  well  to  remember  that  the  noble 
sea-coasts  of  Spain  swarm  with  poor,  and 
bold,  and  skilful  sailors,  ready  for  the  service 
20 


•  * 

230  <JAN-EDEN. 

of  speculative  adventurers  in  the  old  world  > 
and  the  new.  Glib  orators  at  Tammany  y 
Hall  may  find  proposals  for  the  conquest  of 
Cuba  sweet  in  the  mouth,  but  they  will 
prove  bitter  in  the  digestion.  And  when 
the  Spaniard  shall  have  been  driven  from 
the  island,  are  we  to  expect  a  pleasant  en- 
joyment of  our  prize  ?  How  will  the  patri- 
archal communities  of  the  South  relish  the 
society  of  a  state  charged  with  permanent 
and  organized  negro  insurrection  ?  We  need 
but  turn  to  the  history  of  the  Maroons  in 
Jamaica,  or  to  the  bloodier  and  more  recent 
career  of  the  revolted  Indians  in  republican 
Central  America,  if  we  would  form  some 
notion  of  the  state  into  which  Cuba  would 
be  plunged  by  a  servile  war,  Cuba,  whose 
negroes  are  to  be  counted  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  and  whose  vast  wildernesses  are 
not  less  deadly  to  the  white  man,  than  the 
everglades  of  Florida. 

A  violent  transfer  of  Cuba  from  the  hands 
of  Spain  to  those  of  America,  would  be  at- 
tended with  the  most  disastrous  effects  upon 
her  prosperity.  The  tobacco  crop  might 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  231 

perhaps  be  increased,  but  the  sugar  interest 
would  be  sadly  shaken,  and  those  canny 
economists  who  read  the  fate  of  nations  in 
the  Sibylline  leaves  of  the  ledger,  can  see 
no  good  flowing  from  such  a  consummation, 
to  any  American  State,  unless,  perhaps,  to 
Louisiana,  which  might  rejoice  over  the  pros- 
tration of  her  greatest  rival.  The  political 
and  moral  influence  of  a  Cuban  common- 
wealth, exasperated  by  the  most  debasing 
of  wars,  certainly  would  not  tend  to  dissi- 
pate the  clouds  which  now  overhang  the 
nation. 

Will  the  conquest  of  Cuba  be  attempted  ? 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  slavery,  despair- 
ing of  her  northern  frontiers,  has  long  been 
looking  to  Spanish  and  Portuguese  America 
as  her  future  domain,  into  which  the  power 
of  the  Union  must  be  made  to  force  her 
way.*  The  accidental  defeat  of  her  designs 

*  The  charming  naivete  with  which  Lieut.  Herndon,  an  officer 
of  the  American  navy,  officially  exploring  the  valley  of  the  Am- 
azon, talks  of  the  fitness  of  the  soil  of  Brazil  for  slave  labor, 
(Report,  pp.  268,  281,  341,)  is  but  one  evidence  among  many,  of 
this  fact,  and  of  the  kindred  fact,  proofs  of  which  are  by  no 
so  hard  to  find  as  we  are  slow  to  find  them,  that  slavery 


232  GAN-EDEN. 

upon  California,  has  naturally  enough  stim- 
ulated her  zeal  in  other  directions.  Mexico, 
Central  America,  the  valley  of  the  Amazon, 
lie  along  the  horizon  of  her  hopes.  Cuba 
and  Hayti  are  near  at  hand.  But  the  South 
sadly  overrates  the  resources  of  repression 
at  her  command,  and  as  sadly  underrates 
the  explosive  forces  sleeping  in  the  bosom 
of  Cuba,  in  anticipating  a  real  accession  to 
her  power  from  the  conquest  of  that  island. 
"May  not  Cuba,  however,  be  fairly  pur- 
chased ?  "  The  wealthy  states  of  America 
may  .perhaps  be  won  over  by  their  persua- 
sive southern  sisters,  to  furnish  the  funds  for 
such  a  purchase,  and  the  present  tyrannical 
and  corrupt  government  of  Spain,  may  pos- 

has  thoroughly  identified  itself  with  American  policy  and  the 
American  name.  It  is  truly  humiliating  for  a  traveller,  to  see 
how  generally  it  is  taken  for  granted,  that  an  American  must  bo 
friendly  to  slavery,  and  to  the  prejudices  that  grow  out  of  it.  I 
happened  once,  at  a  country-houBe  in  Cuba,  to  be  called  upon 
for  my  opinion,  in  a  controversy  as  to  the  propriety  of  admitting 
negroes  into  railway  carriages  and  coaches.  When  I  said  that 
it  seemed  to  me  neither  republican  nor  well-bred  to  object  to  the 
presence,  in  a  public  conveyance,  of  any  decent,  and  well-be- 
haved person  of  whatever  color ;  "  Ah ! "  cried  a  lady  in  the 
company,  "  I  thought  yon  did  not  look  like  an  American,  and 
now  I  see  that  you  must  be  an  Englishman ! " 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  233 

sibly  be  seduced   into   the   sale.     But  the 
antecedents  and  the  temper  of  Spain  make 
such    a    transaction    in    the    last    degree 
unlikely.     And   if  it   were    quietly  accom-  ]  ' 
plished,  would  the  clouds  be  thereby  raised 
from  the  future  of  Cuba  ?     To  rear  in  that  I 
fair  island  a  slave-holding  republic,  is  only 
to  postpone,  not  to  avert  her  ruin. 

The  "  Orators  of  the  Human  Race,"  may 
consider  it  their  professional  duty  to  deny 
this.     They  may  tell  us  that  the  annexation 
of  Cuba  will  bring  with  it  newspapers,  and   j 
the  ballot-box,  and   representation  for  the 
ivhites,  and  they  may  point  us  to  the  States   ! 
of  the  South,  where  freedom  and  slavery 
have  so  long  lived  on  amicable  terms,  and 
the  building  of  the  commonwealth  has  been 
safe,  while  thunderstorm  after  thunderstorm 
of  thought  has  overswept  the  world.     It  is 
hard  to  reason  with  "  Orators  of  the  Human 
Race,"  but  harder  to  believe  that  buildings 
can  be  safe,  whose  Ughtmng  rods  end  on  the  \ 
roof!  I 

Clouds  and  darkness  overshadow  the  fu-    \ 


234  GAN-EDEN. 

ture  of  fair  and  fertile  Cuba.  Physical 
geography,  and  the  nineteenth  century  have 
not  quite  done  away  with  the  old  mysteries 
of  doubt  and  doom. 

The  finest  regions  of  the  earth  lie  still 
unblest  by  happy  human  life.  The  loveliest 
climates  of  the  conquered  world,  are  breathed 
and  have  been  breathed,  for  ages  past,  by 
despots  and  by  slaves.  The  broadest  rivers 
bear  least  upon  their  bosoms.  These  are 
ways  of  God  which  even  our  curious  cen- 
tury shall  not  find  out. 

While  the  chances  of  life  cheat  individual 
hope,  shall  we  wonder  at  and  deny  the  re- 
tributions that  overtake  national  sins  and 
follies  ?  Do  we  see,  in  individual  men,  the 
permitted  waste  of  noblest  powers,  the  ty- 
ranny of  vice,  the  dissolution  of  life,  and 
shall  we  be  startled  out  of  measure,  at  the 
mystery  of  national  wrong  and  national  deg- 
radation ?  Within  the  narrowest  circle  of 
human  interests  and  affections,  lie  wrecks 
and  deserts,  melancholy  as  those  that  deform 
the  shores  of  the  oceans  and  of  the  ages. 


PICTURES    OF    CUBA.  235 

The  same  faith  which  brightens  our  private 
experience  of  good  and  ill,  alone  can  cheer 
the  stern  realities  and  dark  expectancies  of 
the  world's  wider  life. 


L'ENVOI 


THE  young  breath  of  the  northern  spring  is  lifting, 
The  airy  curtains  drooping  round  my  head ; 
Small  argosies  of  summer,  wrecked  and  drifting, 
Sink  through  the  seas  of  moonlight  round  me  spread. 

II. 

Fair  Odalisque  upon  the  purple  lying, 
Luxurious  daughter  of  the  South,  farewell ! 
Upon  my  ear  the  palm-tree's  passionate  sighing, 
Fades,  with  the  summer  sea's  voluptuous  swell. 

in. 

Our  years  decay.     Our  souls  sail  onward,  teeming 
With  hopes  and  wishes  unfulfilled  below ; 
Oh,  North  of  life !     Oh,  South  of  gorgeous  dreaming ! 
Whence  shall  the  undeceiving  breezes  blow  ? 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  ) 
May  26, 1854.       J 


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